House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese 9780824890964

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
Foreword: Looking Back on Chinese Art, Architecture, and History
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Chinas Houses, Homes, and Families
Part One The house
2 The House: An Introduction
3 In Search of the Elusive Chinese House
4 House and Garden: Sanctuary for the Body and the Mind
5 Siting and Situating a Dwelling
6 Chinese Architectural Aesthetics: Patterns of Living and Being between Past and Present
7 Traditional Chinese Architecture and Furniture A Cultural Interpretation
8 Sheltering the Past: The Preservation of China's Old Dwellings
Part Two The home and the family
9 The Meaning of Jia: An Introduction
10 House United, House Divided: Myths and Realities, Then and Now
11 The Inner Quarters: Oppression or Freedom?
12 Between House and Home: The Family in South China
13 Ancestral Halls: Family, Lineage, and Ritual
14 Reading the Text of the Home: Domestic Ritual Configuration through Print
15 The Symbolic Seasonal Round in House and Palace: Counting the Auspicious Nines in Traditional China
16 Making Room for Intimacy: Domestic Space and Conjugal Privacy in Rural North China
Glossary
References
Contributors
Index

Citation preview

House Home Family

Living and Being Chinese Edited by RONALD

G.

and K A I - Y I N

KNAPP LO

University of H a w a i i Press, H o n o l u l u C h i n a Institute in America, New York

© 2005 University of Hawai'i Press All rights reserved Printed in China 100908070605

654321

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data House, home, family: living and being Chinese / edited by Ronald G. Knapp and Kai-Yin Lo. p. cm.—(Spatial habitus (Series)) Includes bibliographical references and index. i s B N - 1 3 : 978-0-8248-2858-5 ( h a r d c o v e r : alk. p a p e r ) — I S B N - 1 0 : 0 - 8 2 4 8 - 2 8 5 8 - 5 ( h a r d c o v e r : alk. p a p e r ) i S B N - 1 3 : 978-0-8248-2953-7 ( p b k . : alk. p a p e r ) — i s B N - 1 0 : 0-8248-2953-0 ( p b k . : alk. p a p e r )

1. Architecture, Domestic—China. 2. Vernacular architecture—China. 3. Architecture and society—China. 4. Architecture—Human factors—China. 5. Symbolism in architecture— China. I. Title: Living and being Chinese. II. Knapp, Ronald G. III. Lo, Kai-Yin. IV. China Institute in America. V. Series. NA7448.H68 2 0 0 5 728'.0951—dc22

2004025303

University of Hawai'i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by Barbara Pope Book Design Printed by SNP Leefung Printers Ltd.

Publication of this book was made possible by the generous

Ruth and Bruce Dayton Jack and Suzy Wadsworth

suppoi

C O N T E N T S

Wen Fong

FOREWORD

XI

Looking Back on Chinese Art, Architecture, and History PREFACE

XVII

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ronald G. Knapp PART

1

ONE

•

Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt

2

XIX

China's Houses, Homes, and Families T H E

1

H O U S E

The House

13

An Introduction Ronald G. Knapp

3

In Search of the Elusive Chinese House

37

Joseph C. Wang

4

House and Garden

73

Sanctuary for the Body and the Mind Ronald G. Knapp

5

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

99

Fengshui, House-Building Rituals, and Amulets Cary Y. Liu

6

Chinese Architectural Aesthetics

139

Patterns of Living and Being between Past and Present Kai-Yin Lo

7

Traditional Chinese Architecture and Furniture A Cultural

Nancy Berliner

8

161

Interpretation

Sheltering the Past The Preservation of China's Old Dwellings

205

P A R T

TWO

Nancy Jervis

•

THE

9

The Meaning of Jia An

Myron L. Cohen

H O M E

A N D

THE

F A M I L Y

223

Introduction

10 House United, House Divided

235

Myths and Realities, Then and Now Francesca Bray

11

The Inner Quarters

259

Oppression or Freedom? David Faure

12

Between House and Home

281

The Family in South China Puay-peng Ho

13 Ancestral Halls

295

Family, Lineage, and Ritual James A. Flath

14 Reading the Text of the Home Domestic Ritual Configuration

Maggie Bickford

325 through Print

15 The Symbolic Seasonal Round in House and Palace Counting the Auspicious Nines in Traditional

Yunxiang Yan

349

China

16 Making Room for Intimacy

373

Domestic Space and Conjugal Privacy in Rural North 397

GLOSSARY REFERENCES LIST INDEX

415

OF CONTRIBUTORS 445

441

China

WEN

Foreword

F O N G

Looking Back on Chinese Art, Architecture, and History

Fig. F.1. Chinese

vernacular

This volume on House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese, as well as the pre-

architecture as viewed in

ceding symposium (held at China Institute in New York in April 2001), gives us the

Hongcun, Yixian,

chance to reflect on issues of identity in traditional and contemporary Chinese cul-

Anhui.

Source: Photograph by Ronald G. Knapp 2003.

ture, as well as to consider the meaning of "living and being Chinese." It is clear that there is a wide range of compelling new interests in traditional Chinese domestic architecture—as evidence of China's rich and complex material culture and social life; as a part of Chinese cultural heritage in urgent need of preservation; and, finally, as a source of what Kai-Yin Lo calls "the chic of Chinese taste." According to the anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, all scholarly discourse on art suffers from "unconsciously introducing] the 'spectator' into the concept 'beautiful.'" For Bourdieu, works of art become "beautiful" to us spectators only after they are "dead" (1990, 34). In China today, where economic development leads to wholesale displacement of traditional-style dwellings by modern brick and concrete constructions, beautiful structures and furnishings—such as were seen in the China Institute's exhibition "Living Heritage: Vernacular Environment in China" (January-June 2001), and presented throughout this book—are fast disappearing but are, in fact, not "dead" (Figure F.i).This is true even as the Chinese people, according to one observation, "seem to be unsentimental about the loss of traditional architecture, viewing demolition—perhaps even the disintegration of traditional culture in general—as the necessary, if unfortunate, accompaniment of modernization" (Knapp 2000,332). The issue, of course, is to what degree such statements are relevant to China's reality. Indeed, this is the topic that concerns most of the authors of the essays that follow in House Home Family. The destruction of artworks and monuments vital to human history, unfortunately, has gone on continuously throughout the ages in many parts of the world. Some of the most recent shocking reminders of this are the loss of the colossal Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan, one 175 feet in height and another 120 feet, as well as the widespread depredation of material culture that has accompanied warfare in Iraq. Bernard Lewis (1996), the leading historian of the Middle East, has written about how the ancient Middle Eastern

civilizations were "lost, forgotten and literally buried" as their lands underwent a series of cataclysmic changes from Hellenization, Romanization, and Christianization to Islamization. By contrast, it is said, Far Eastern civilizations have maintained a cultural self-awareness throughout the millennia of their existence. Over the broad sweep of Chinese history and especially over the past two hundred years, however, overlapping cycles of war and national turbulence have brought with them the devastation of China's architectural heritage, including the destruction of grand as well as common residences, temples, ancestral halls, city walls, and pagodas, among many other buildings. Losses during the scorched earth campaigns of the Taiping Rebellion in the middle of the nineteenth century and the more recent senseless depredation during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 are but two major and prolonged examples of such destruction of China's material culture. When we consider the colossal Buddha statues of North China at Yungang (Figure F.2, second half of fifth century) or Longmen, which stylistically recall the Bamiyan colossi, we know that they are more than just relics of a lost civilization. The carved inscriptions at Longmen of the sixth century (Figure F.3), for example, are models of the epigraphic style of calligraphy that became the basis of an artistic renaissance in modern China. The story of this artistic revival, which began in the nineteenth century and continues today, has to do with "living and being Chinese." It also raises the question of Which Chinese? In the late nineteenth century, the decline of the empire under the Qing dynasty in the face of the advancing Western military and industrial powers finally alerted the Chinese to the need for modernization. It was the southern Chinese, especially those whose mental horizons had been broadened by their introduction to Western learning in Treaty Ports in South China, who found in the monumental inscriptions of the Longmen cave temples the source for journeying back to the roots of ancient Chinese civilization in the Yellow River basin. Kang Youwei (1858-1927), a native of Canton and leading adviser to the reform emperor Guangxu, for example, concluded that the unification of ancient Chinese scripts was central to the creation of a cultural identity and the stabilization of political institutions (Kang 1936,1-4). He noted, in particular, the art-historical importance of the monumental epigraphic inscriptions of the Northern Wei period during the sixth century in the development of Chinese calligraphy from the ancient clerical script to the modern standard script. For Kang, who saw modern China's malaise as a spiritual and cultural crisis as well as a political one, the reform of calligraphy was as crucial as governmental and social reforms.

xii

Foreword

As a youngster growing up in Shanghai in the 1940s, I studied under Master Li Jian (1881-1956), the leading epigraphic-style calligrapher at that time. I came to the United States as a student in 1948 and returned to China for the first time twenty-nine years later in 1977 as a member of the U.S. delegation on Chinese painting under the auspices of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China. My life during the intervening years had totally separated me from my ancestral land, which, as a youth growing up in wartime Shanghai, I had never really known or seen. I shall never forget my first, thrilling view of the Forbidden City from the Taihemen. The Imperial City (Figure F.4) is laid out along strict north-south and east-west axes, symbolic of the universe and a pattern that is mirrored in the layout of many Chinese dwellings, as can be noted throughout this book. Looking out on this grand architectural space, I recalled the image of a Han brick design (Figure F.5) from about 200 B.C. that appears in Professor Nelson Wu's book, Chinese and Indian Architecture. I realized that here, at last, I had returned to the heart of imperial China, which represented a cyclical worldview in which time and space fed a totally different dimension and meaning from those in our modern way of life. To quote Professor Wu: In the Han image, the world of man is a clearing marked off from the unknown on all four sides by symbols in animal forms [the Blue Dragon in the East, Red Phoenix in the South, White Tiger in the West, and Black

Tortoise in the North]. [Here], time is immeasurable and elastic.... Facing south, [with] his feet firmly on the fifth element, the earth, is man. Via a negative approach—not knowing how high is up, how deep is down, and how far away is the end of the earth in each direction—man fixes his position as equidistant from the end of the universe on all sides, and places himself squarely in the middle. He is not represented by any picture, but his desire is expressed clearly in the abstract form of writing. Scattered inside the square world of man are these words: "One thousand autumns and ten thousand years, enduring happiness, never to end!" (1968,11-12) Standing in front of Taihemen on that morning in 1977,1 understood instantly what it meant for Kang Youwei—and for a part of me—to be "living and being Chinese." Here was the China admired by Voltaire, one of the enlightened thinkers of eighteenth-century Europe. Voltaire thought of China as the model state, led by scholarly mandarins and based on Confucian virtue ethics, bound by reason, not religious dogmas. Only today can we understand how the concept of virtue-ethic can tread a thin line between controlled thought or dogma and spontaneous fanaticism and how it can stand in the way of a modern, pluralistic society in which different ways of thought can coexist. Fig. F.3. Epigraphic in a cave at Longmen. Fong 2001,22, Fig. 16.

inscription Source:

After coming to this country in 1948,1 received an education that prepared me to work on classical Chinese art and art history. My most recent book, a study of modern Chinese painting entitled Between Two Cultures (2002), is written with the knowledge that the story of Chinese painting, unlike that of the Egyptian pyramids or the now lost Bamiyan statues, is not over. To be sure, China's struggle for modernization under the impact of Western culture has threatened the very continuity of traditional Chinese culture. Modern Chinese artists, who inherited the traditional Chinese art historiography shaped by a cyclical worldview and based on the rise and fall of dynastic histories, seem to have difficulty in finding meaning and inspiration in traditional art forms. In other words, the traditional representational system does not appear to fit modern Chinese discourse, which sees Western history as a universal model. If they have lost their traditional narrative, how are modern Chinese artists to express themselves? I believe that Chinese art and architecture, as the China Institute's exhibition called them, are "a living heritage," and it is fair to ask, "Why do we study Chinese art and architectural history?" The lasting achievement of the great Renaissance art historian Erwin Panofsky was his ability to link art with ideas, specifically the

xiv

Foreword

Fig. F.4. The plan of the Imperial City is laid out along strict northsouth and east-west axes, symbolic of the universe.

Source: China Archi-

tecture and Building Press.

Renaissance belief that man is at the center of the universe (Panofsky 1962). By advancing our knowledge of Renaissance art, Panofsky's interpretive strategy also opens up a whole way of thinking about Western art and history. What can Chinese art and architecture tell us about Chinese history? If European Renaissance art shows that man is the measure of all things, Chinese art, architecture, and related social developments epitomize the equivocal relationship between man and the state. The underpinnings of Chinese art and architectural history—the cyclical rise and fall of dynasties, the polarities between political legitimacy and individual expression, loyalty and dissent, and conservatism and innovation—project a larger pattern of meaning: man's struggle to integrate himself with the ideals of a moral and ethical universe while maintaining a deep respect for history. Fig. F.5. A Han brick design from about 200 B.C. that shows the si shen, or "four representing

deities,"

the four

Source: Wu 1967, Plate 1.

directions.

I am fully aware of the limitations of my own chosen profession—art history— which Pierre Bourdieu (1990) considers as merely a "pretext for a hagiographie hermeneutics." But I am also a firm believer in the proposition that art comes from art, and I support Kai-Yin Lo's dedication to reviving Chinese decorative arts and Ronald G. Knapp's appreciation of China's traditional domestic buildings and way of life. I have no doubt that the richness of classical Chinese art and architecture over the broad sweep of history is a profound cultural legacy worth exploring and reintegrating into modern Chinese life and culture.

xvi

Foreword

Preface

House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese is the outcome of a multifaceted effort to expand the view of China's domestic architecture by going beyond the buildings themselves to include the families who live within the walls and who infuse their courtyards with life. In early 2001, an exhibition entitled Living

Heritage—Vernacu-

lar Environment in China, which was guest curated by Kai-Yin Lo—brought to New York City's China Institute a rich collection of photographs and objects on this underappreciated and not very well known subject. Inspired by the exhibition's novel approach to the subject matter, the China Institute, in collaboration with the Asia Society, organized the "House Home Family: Living and Being" symposium to complement the exhibition. The symposium brought together scholars and experts in the fields of art, architecture, anthropology, cultural geography, and history to discuss the concept of the house and home, as well as issues of identity in traditional and contemporary Chinese culture. These scholars then transformed their contributions into the rich collection comprising this book. While Tu Wei-ming and Klaas Ruitenbeek participated in the symposium, their schedules did not permit them to contribute to the book. David Faure, James Flath, and Puay-peng Ho were invited to contribute new chapters that fill gaps and make as comprehensive as possible this multidisciplinary book on a range of subjects so far not addressed under one framework. The contributing authors share the editors' belief that a multidisciplinary approach not only elucidates but also stimulates multidimensional explorations and exchanges. From a layman's enthusiasm derived from collecting Chinese furniture, Kai-Yin Lo's interest has moved beyond the functional, aesthetic, and structural aspects of furniture to its spiritual and symbolic value, its interrelatedness and synergies with the house, architecture, and people in the scheme of the living environment. This book represents another phase in her journey of understanding her heritage and identity. After documenting China's traditional houses for forty years, Ronald G. Knapp similarly has moved toward explorations of the extraordinarily complex interrelationships of structures and space, the families who create and live in them, and the meaning of related symbols and folklore.

xvii

As editors, it is our joint hope that this volume, which offers a macro view of a dynamic and important topic that hitherto has not been addressed, yields a deeper and wider understanding of how Chinese families are organized and why the Chinese construct their living spaces the way they do—what "living and being Chinese" means. It is our intent that by advancing an understanding and appreciation of the vernacular heritage of China, this volume will promote a greater awareness of the need to conserve the buildings and environments that embody the essence and culture of Chinese life. This effort should lead us all to think differently about the complex subject of the "architecture of Chineseness" and provoke a cascade of further questions for future cooperative interdisciplinary exchanges.

xviii

Preface

Acknowledgments

For support of the January-June 2001 Living Heritage—Vernacular

Environment

in China exhibition, guest curated by Kai-Yin Lo, and the June 2001 "House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese" symposium, held at China Institute in collaboration with the Asia Society, we wish to thank the Wood-Rill Foundation; Fidelity Foundation; Lee Foundation, Singapore; Esquel Enterprises; WLS Spencer Foundation; the Shui On Group; Robert Ellsworth; Friends of the Gallery, and Cathay Pacific Airways. Special thanks for support of the production of this book are offered to Ruth and Bruce Dayton's Wood-Rill Foundation and Jack and Suzy Wadsworth's WLS Spencer Foundation. The leadership of John R. Curtis, Chair of China Institute Gallery Committee, is gratefully acknowledged, as is the support of other committee members: Maggie Bickford, Claudia G. Brown, Maxwell K. Hearn, Wu Hung, Annette Juliano, H. Christopher Luce, Robert D. Mowry, and Marie-Hélène Weill. At China Institute, the cooperation and organizational support of Willow Hai Chang, Gallery Director; France Pepper, Associate Director of Public Programs; and Nancy Jervis, Vice President and Director of Programs; as well as Torrey Whitman, president at the time of the exhibition/symposium; and Jack Maisano, the current president, have been critical in sustaining the several facets of this project. The House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese manuscript has benefited from the assistance of many scholars, institutions, and individuals, whose encouragement and financial support have made possible a richly produced volume at a modest price. Although the authors themselves took most of the photographs and prepared most of the drawings appearing in this volume, others have been generous in granting us permission to use their previously published illustrations. In addition to the authors, special thanks are offered to Chiu Kwong-chiu, Ivan Chi Ching Ho, Li Yuxiang, Huang Hanmin, Olivier Laude, Jerry Azevedo, LinHui-cheng, and Elizabeth J. Leppman for granting permission to use their illustrations. Permission to use images from their collections was also granted by the Freer Gallery of Art/ Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the National Palace Museum,

xix

Taibei; the Academia Sinica, Taibei; the Palace Museum, Beijing; the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing; the Asian Civilization Museum, Singapore; the East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley; and the Morrison Collection, Harvard University. Individual authors in the volume also credit a large number of galleries, private collectors, and published books for the many types of illustrations they have used. To all of these, we offer grateful thanks since the visual dimension of House Home Family is equal to the text itself. Special thanks are offered Yi-fu Tuan, member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Spatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia's Vernacular

Architecture

series, whose careful reading of the draft manuscript helped the editors to make several critical adjustments in organization. In addition, two anonymous peer reviewers offered abundant comments and insights for each chapter, as well as the book as a whole, that have helped improve it. At the University of Hawai'i Press, we acknowledge the continuing support of executive editor Patricia Crosby, whose enthusiasm for Asian architecture has brought many titles to Hawai'i's outstanding catalog of books on Asia. Pat's willingness to explore an arrangement with China Architecture and Building Press (CABP), Beijing, led to negotiations with Huang Juzheng and Zhang Huizhen, senior editors at CABP, and the publication of this book in separate English and Chinese editions. Qi Linlin and Dong Suhua of CABP have played key roles in transforming an English manuscript, in the process bringing new insights to a Chinese readership. We are grateful for the assistance of Cheri Dunn, who served ably as managing editor for this project, and Bojana Ristich, who capably copyedited a complicated manuscript. Special thanks to David Lie for contributing funds in support of another of KaiYin Lo's cultural projects; Chiu Kwong-chiu for his customary stimulating views; Yeung Chun-tong and Anita Wong of the University of Hong Kong Museum for their readiness in assisting to locate reference materials; Professor Cheng Pei-kai, Director, Chinese Civilisation Centre, and Professor Zhang Longxi, Director, Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, both of City University, Hong Kong, for their willingness to share scholarly insights; Professor Leo Ou-fan Lee of Harvard University for his interest in the project; Professor Lu Yuanding for his encouragement; and Nancy Steinhardt for her generosity with time and constructive advice. Corinne Nyquist and Russell Howitt of the Interlibrary Loan department of the Sojourner Truth Library at State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz are commended for their unflagging responsiveness to requests for difficult-to-obtain

XX

Acknowledgments

materials. Emily Trapp, director of the Instructional Media Services department at SUNY New Paltz, was generous in accommodating our need to use equipment and in offering the advice necessary to scan countless slides. It is important to acknowledge the anonymous craftsmen whose skill and talent created the residences seen throughout this book. The carpenters who fashioned the furniture and the artisans who ornamented the dwellings transformed buildings of many types into objects of beauty as well as meaning. Much appreciation also must be offered to the countless families who opened their homes to our inquiry and permitted the photographing of their daily lives. Both Xing Ruan and Ronald G. Knapp, the editors of Spatial Habitus:

Making

and Meaning in Asia's Vernacular Architecture, are pleased that House Home

Family:

Living and Being Chinese is the inaugural volume in what we hope will become an important window into the sociocultural, historical, and environmental factors that influence the structure and meaning of vernacular architecture—buildings, settlements, and landscapes—for more than half the world's population.

Acknowledgments

1

Chinas Houses, Homes, and Families

In China, as elsewhere in the world, it is generally within a house that a family creates its home. However, the term "house" alone is insufficient to encompass the full range of structures and inhabited places within which Chinese families live their lives. Dwellings in China embrace not only houses of many types at fixed locations—rudimentary huts, ordinary rectangular cottages, compact quadrangular courtyard residences, extensive manor complexes, even sumptuous palaces—but also include tents and boats of extraordinary variety that are certainly not "houses" or "buildings" as places of habitation for significant populations who live on the move. "All houses," of course, as Paul Oliver reminds us, "are dwellings, but all dwellings are not houses. To dwell is to make one's abode: to live in, or at, or on, or about a place" (2003,15). It is important to keep in mind this broader noun and its associated verb—"dwelling" and "to dwell"—even as most of the focus of this book is on "houses," since the terms together suggest the remarkable diversity of habitats and, by extension, variations in the relationships of the people living within them. Today, as in the past, most of China's population continues to live in relatively simple dwellings that—while they may not be "old dwellings"—are largely rural and the product of building practices and forms rooted in earlier times. Most of these dwellings are nondescript, rather unexceptional, and commonplace in that they are built of seemingly impermanent materials such as friable earth and perishable plant material that are readily accessible. Many, however, are well built, durable, grand in scale, and sometimes even exquisite in terms of their proportions, building materials, and delicately ornamented detail work in stone, wood, and clay. One is tempted to assert that families in China also vary in similar ways in terms of their simplicity or complexity. Any dwelling reflects some of the countless ways in which available local building materials and building practices can be employed to compose and give shape to both internal and external spaces. Many common Chinese dwellings indeed are quite transitory in terms of their material aspects, and the household must expend substantial time and resources in simply maintaining the roof, walls, and floors against the onslaught of unceasing natural forces. However, a dwelling is more than

1

a mere object that results from the series of practical tasks employed by craftsmen as they add value to raw materials by transforming them into something useful in order to meet a basic need—shelter. Over time, dwellings usually come to transcend the material structures and the defined spaces that give them shape, as the inhabited built form becomes a home, the theater for the lives of those living within it. In attempting to capture the totality and the interrelatedness of both the artifactual and experiential elements of any dwelling—construction materials, building structure, spatial layout, orientation and siting, ornamentation, furniture and furnishings, calendrical rituals, beliefs and values, cosmo-magical symbolism, gender relations, residential hierarchies, economic status, age rankings, life cycle events (including births, weddings, and deaths), generations living and dead, wear and tear, daily and seasonal activities, and changing patterns of use, among many others, all viewed across the sweep of time—one realizes that there is indeed an "archiCulture" manifested in the full range of elusive interrelationships linking house, home, and family.1 Through conscious as well as subconscious decisions relating to these elements, patterns are situated and life is animated in ways that then transcend even the temporal world of those living within at any given time. There indeed is an "architecture of Chineseness" that links many realms. There are both commonalities and differences, some obvious and others subtle, through time as well as across space in what are generalized as "Chinese houses, homes, and families." There is, however, insufficient textual, archaeological, or visual evidence to speak confidently about how houses and families have varied over the full sweep of China's history. It is not possible to see clearly, for example, how a particular building form, floor plan, or structural element evolved historically. Major migrations of soldiers and peasants no doubt brought with them building norms that were adapted to new physical and social environments, but evidence is not at hand to understand the process of diffusion of a housing type, ornamental pattern, building ritual, or even family organizational form across China's vast landscape. Yet there is good evidence that many fundamental patterns were in fact set at an early date, with only minor modifications taking place subsequently. Moreover, unlike in the West, where simple houses and churches, for example, are radically different in terms of form and structure, each with unique characteristics that in fact differ over time and vary geographically, in China there is a remarkable consonance among various built forms. It can be stated with some confidence that a "Chinese building has a refreshing directness and functional clarity.... The greatest palace hall has a look of being a glorified farm building, and between the painted

2

Ronald G. Knapp

pavilion on the marble terrace and the humblest thatched hut there was real harmony" (Boyd 1962,48). The weight of precedence and practical experience, as well as conventionalized building elements, all have contributed to what is admittedly a conservative building tradition in China. On the other hand, there is significant visual evidence, observable even today, of striking variations in architectural style that are geographical—that is, varying over space—rather than the more elusive historical, varying over time. These variations reflect also the adaptability of conventionalized forms and practices as often practical responses to differing regional conditions. Similarities and differences in what constitutes a family form are not as readily apparent either historically or geographically, and thus it should not be surprising that much of what is "known" about family structure—even families today in China—is based less on actual information and analysis than ideals, myth, and lore. Strong local or regional idioms indeed characterize dwelling forms throughout China to the degree that it is proper to view Chinese dwellings as "vernacular architecture," common forms whose variations are as diverse as vernacular languages and other aspects of everyday culture. Houses are among the most lasting of all cultural artifacts, even though the materials of which they are made may decay or disintegrate and the circumstances leading to their creation have passed. Like families, which also have local forms, dwellings take shape over time, sometimes growing and at others retrenching, but at all times suggestive of the internal as well as external dynamics giving them shape. Often occupied by successive generations, each house is a "living" entity in the broadest sense in that the household's daily life and cyclical rituals provide the structure for the family's identity. In the past, generation after generation often occupied the same house or adjacent ones at a particular site, showing a remarkable responsiveness to changing needs via ongoing accommodation even within very simple inherited structures. Up to this point, careful readers will note that the term "Chinese" has been used as if it were a proper ethnonym that describes a relatively homogeneous people living within China. To be more precise, of course, one must recognize that within the geographical and political space known as China, "the Chinese" can be used in only a loose sense. Issues of ethnic identity are strikingly complex in China, reflected certainly by the fact that the People's Republic of China claims to be a "unitary multinational state" comprised of fifty-six recognized nationalities. The distinctive buildings, costumes, languages, and cultural patterns generally, including family structures, are sometimes celebrated and often, but not always, clearly distinguishable.

China's Houses, Homes, and Families

3

The majority ethnicity in China is that of the Han, who are sometimes referred to as Han Chinese and who represent some 92 percent of the country's total population. The Han today number nearly 1.2 billion people. In China, there is increasing knowledge of distinctive family structures within some ethnic minority groups, such as the Mongol, Hui, and Uyghur, but for many minorities their families are now mere variants of local Han patterns. Ethnographic research among the Han throughout the country is remarkably limited in regional scope and by historical period. While ethnicity, like class, gender, and age, is a variable that likely influences how families live and give shape to their buildings, this is a subject that must await further research and is not dealt with to any extent in this book. Moreover, it must also be acknowledged that even among the Han, who are spread across a territory as large as the United States, there is significant diversity in terms of spoken language and other specific cultural characteristics. It is all too often not acknowledged that these subethnic differences among those called Han are actually as great as those among European nationalities, who are usually readily differentiated. China indeed is not a discrete cultural entity with homogeneous patterns of culture within either its contemporary or past political boundaries. Within China, regional patterns are as distinctive and frequently as sharp as those among nations in Europe. In addition to their size and topographic complexity, eight Chinese provinces each have populations exceeding 50 million, while France, the United Kingdom, and Italy—well known for their own internal regional differences—each have only about 58 million. Germany, Western Europe's largest nation, has a population of 83 million, while Sichuan, Shandong, and Hebei provinces are even more populous. "China" and "Chinese" are indeed capacious umbrellas to wrap any generalization. Orally and experientially, individuals, families, neighbors, merchants, artisans, and others pass on practices, forms, and behaviors as traditions. However, the houses and families seen in China today are not the products of a motionless traditional culture in which either "structures" were static or values stagnant. The terms "tradition" and "traditional" are sometimes used to describe inherited forms from the past and even those of recent times, but these terms have limitations in that they are loaded with the ambiguities of agelessness, monotony, and permanence, as well as that they set up a series of false dichotomies. Yi-Fu Tuan asks, "When we say of a building that it is traditional, do we intend approval or, on the contrary, criticism? Why is it that the word 'traditional' can evoke, on the one hand, a feeling of the real and the authentic and hence some quality to be desired, but, on the other hand, a sense of limitation—of a deficiency in boldness and originality?" (1989, 27). His

4

Ronald G. Knapp

comments are appropriate in considering the nature of "traditional" Chinese families over time. While "traditional" may suggest something that is age-old, customary, perhaps even ageless, in fact the notion of "tradition" is rooted in the literal meaning of "that which is handed down," often a robustly dynamic process whatever its pace. The term "tradition" is not intrinsically an antonym for "unchanging" and "modern" inasmuch as "traditions" are recreated and remodified as time passes and as buildings and families undergo change. Amos Rapoport, in looking at houses, declares: "Tradition can be seen as a positive or a negative concept, the latter being more common. It can also be neutral. This is the position I adopt. Also, tradition does not need to be rejected or embraced in toto; it is possible to admire traditional artifacts while rejecting the tradition that produced them" (1989, 81). Over time, indeed, some aspects of a tradition may disappear while other aspects persist, revealing a dynamic that results from the practical experiences of people and accumulates as a treasure house of know-how. House Home Family demonstrates this in countless ways. No single or simple explanation is sufficient to tell us how a dwelling space or house in China was or is conceptualized. Like any building, a house protects those inside from the vagaries of weather—heat and cold, rain and snow, humidity, and wind—yet sheltering is only one of the factors contributing to house form. Every dwelling is constructed within a broader environmental context—climate (that is, the long-term conditions of weather), as well as soil, rock, and vegetation—that is usually understood to a remarkable degree by the pragmatic habits and sensibility of peoples inhabiting an area. People certainly build their dwellings in order to provide some level of physical comfort—a habitable internal microclimate—within a particular milieu. Moreover, in China the application offengshui (wind and water), or geomancy, reveals not only a sensitivity to recurring patterns of nature and a high level of environmental awareness, but also the self-conscious ways in which people give shape to space. As compelling as are the varying responses to environmental conditions, the complexity of Chinese housing forms arises from the fact that although dwellings may be "typologically s i m i l a r . . . they are created and sustained through independent evolution and culturally accumulated wisdom" related to local cultural practices (Oliver 1997, xxii). Across what must be accepted as a vastness of time and space and status, there is indeed a degree of complexity that confounds understanding and generalizing about Chinese houses, homes, and families. Dwellings are the sites

China's Houses, Homes, and Families

5

of reproduction, work, socialization, and leisure, which together animate the human relationships within a family and often reach beyond an individual house to others in the broader community. Many, indeed perhaps most, Chinese houses have always been mere rectangles of walled spaces, with only the most elemental levels of spatial demarcation. Yet the physical layout of many Chinese houses reveals somewhat complicated patterns of relationships that express age, gender, and generational status, as well as child rearing and care of the aged. All too often, it seems that Chinese houses are in a continuous state of alteration in order to meet the shifting requirements of a household as marriages occur, new members are born, and others die. As the locus of family life, rural and urban houses serve as the arena for a household's production and consumption activities and reflect elements of their religious and cosmological beliefs. Spurred by accelerating economic development after decades of relative stagnation, Chinese homes and families are undergoing unforeseen and sometimes startling transformations. In many places, old dwellings, including entire villages and complete neighborhoods, have been unceremoniously destroyed. As this century begins, social, economic, and political forces—in the guise of modernization— continue to assail housing and family forms in China, leading to replacement buildings and new human relationships that echo often only in a muffled way the richness of inherited patterns. Chinese give the impression of being largely unsentimental about the loss of their old dwellings and their old family forms, all too ready to supplant them with "modern" forms thought to be more suitable in meeting the needs of daily life as Chinese "progress." Many are grateful that cumbersome and restrictive family and housing forms have been swept aside, unleashing in the process a range of unparalleled personal freedoms and lifestyles. To some, it is somewhat paradoxical that the onslaught of modernization and globalization, as well as the utter destruction of old dwellings, has not utterly subverted all traditional family patterns and practices. Beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating over the following two decades, new-style housing has increased throughout rural China, first in the peri-urban areas of the country's coastal cities but inexorably appearing throughout the country. While the new style varies from place to place, the Chinese countryside is replete with hybrid dwellings, often multistoried, boxlike "villas" that are amalgamations of old and new elements. Even in the countryside and in small towns, apartment-like residences for small families are increasingly the norm. Farming families, once dependent upon the labor of nearby kin, now find non-

6

Ronald G. Knapp

agricultural family members scattered beyond old communities. Nontraditional building materials and innovations, especially cement and prestressed concrete slabs with tensioned metal rods within them—used instead of wood and earth— have impacted housing designs, just as new notions of privacy and independence threaten traditional family organization. Western, or at least non-Chinese, architectural motifs—including oversized windows, sweeping staircases, and glazed walls of tile—have brought about a proliferation of new housing types, just as media in their many forms have introduced elements of a globalized youth culture with its variant lifestyles to those forming new families and adjusting to those in which they were born. Private beds—that is, those not shared with siblings or parents—and private bathrooms have increased in popularity even as ritual spaces have shrunk in size and prominence. Spaces once focusing on venerating ancestors now serve as entertainment centers replete with the latest electronic gadgetry. Changing aesthetics and expectations, moreover, continue to be stimulated by global media that forthrightly challenge traditional housing designs as well as long-standing ways of living. Common inherited house forms that well served the needs of generations are also undermined not only by structural changes in the composition of individual families, but also by the fundamental restructuring of work patterns of rural as well as urban residents. As real estate values have climbed in peri-urban areas, it has become more difficult for farmers to compete with developers, who are more interested in acquiring land for various purposes than considering any of the old structures on the land. As in post-World War II America and later in Europe, Australia, and Japan, revolutionary trends such as changes in urban structure, rural decline, suburbanization, increasing mobility via personal vehicles, proliferating media messages, and rising incomes have brought about transformations in families and their homes throughout China. Economic, social, and cultural factors—those that are local as well as those that are truly global—have both corroded and, it must be stated, sometimes enriched long-standing housing and family forms, with intended and unintended consequences. Over the past quarter century especially, demographic and economic developments, such as the somewhat misnamed "One Child Policy" in particular and declining birth rates in general, have greatly impacted family organization, as well as housing forms. Whether the result of state-imposed restrictions on the number of children allowed per family or free choices related to rapid modernization, Chinese families are becoming smaller, although this is not always reflected in the size of Chinese dwellings. As discussed in several chapters, joint families, once

China's Houses, Homes, and Families

7

characterized by the pooling of income, common residence, and a shared kitchen, are increasingly being replaced by a pronounced conjugalism, in which a husband and wife, with their one or two children, live as an autonomous economic unit in an independent dwelling apart from their parents and married siblings. Yet to some degree, extended families continue to exist as corporate entities in which there are both significant financial cooperation and social linkages, even though the bonds of spatial propinquity have been broken by the demise of coresidential living arrangements. Some perspective on the tangible and intangible relationships among house, home, and family—that is, the dialectical and mutually productive relationship between the family as a social unit and the house as a concrete artifact—can be gleaned from the twelfth-century observations of Yuan Cai, whose ideas continue to resonate with those living today: To build a house is a very difficult project for a family. Even those in their middle years and familiar with the ways of the world are not experts in construction. Naturally it is even worse with those of little experience! Very few of them escape ruining their families. When a man begins to build, he starts by discussing his plans with a master builder. The master builder's primary fear is that the man will decide not to build when he hears the price, so he keeps the scale small and the cost low. The owner considers the project within his means and decides to go ahead. The master builder then gradually enlarges the scale until the cost has increased several-fold before the house is half done. The owner cannot halt the project in the middle so he borrows money or sells land elsewhere. The master builder, delighted, goes on with more construction, increasing the charges for labor even higher. I have advised people to build houses gradually over a decade or longer. That way, when the house is done the family will still be as rich as before. First consider the foundation; level the high spots and build up the low ones. Perhaps build the walls and dig out the ponds. Do this in stages, planning to take over ten years. Next consider the scale and the quantity of the materials needed, down to details such as the number of logs for beams and bamboo for fences. Each year buy some according to the numbers needed and have them hewn right away. Plan to have them all ready in ten-odd years. Again, calculate how many tiles and stones you will need; plan to use whatever

8

Ronald G. Knapp

resources you have left to gradually store them up. Even the wages should not be handled on the spur of the moment. With this method the house can be finished with the family as rich as before. (Ebrey 1984, 320-321) Throughout this book, each of the authors demonstrates the many bonds linking house, home, and family, sometimes echoing these comments by Yuan Cai. Two major section introductory essays help to guide readers to an understanding of important relationships, as well as the tensions between the past and present, continuity and change. Although there are different emphases from chapter to chapter, each author—whether anthropologist, cultural geographer, architect, architectural historian, art historian, or historian—attempts to focus her/his disciplinary perspective on a number of common objectives related to "living and being Chinese." Seemingly encyclopedic in terms of the range of topics covered, the complexity of the subject matter, and the novelty of the various approaches, this book is not the final word on any topic. Examining regional housing types, environmental adaptations, characteristic floor plans, conventional structural components, frequently used building materials, house-building rituals, and sociocultural elements (including domestic routines, social organization, and ritual spaces), as well as the use of characteristic ornamentation and symbols, the authors raise many topics that demand further study. Some authors are more descriptive than analytical; others indeed place their arguments within a theoretical framework.

1. N a n c y Berliner's use of the term "archiculture" has spurred m y use of it here, although I have chosen to alter the spelling to "archiCulture" in order to sharpen its reading. For an examination of the archiCulture of a remarkable dwelling, see her Yin Y u T a n g (2003).

China's Houses, Homes, and

Families

N A N C Y

S H A T Z M A N

2

The House

S T E I N H A R D T

An

Introduction

Jia, the title of the first part of the famous autobiographical trilogy by Ba Jin (1905-), is usually translated Family in English-language versions, but in the minds of Chinese readers it is simultaneously the story of a multigenerational household, or home; the family members who are born, live, work, struggle, aspire, die, and will be venerated in it; and the architectural structure in which it all takes places. Implicit in the word jia, as well, are the ways in which societal, economic, and political events inside and outside the house, home, and family influence or affect one another (Figure 2.1). In traditional Chinese society, house, home, and family and all that they touch are seamlessly interwoven. Although in the Chinese mind a house has neither purpose nor meaning without the family that makes it a home, it is nevertheless an architectural structure, no matter how simple or complex (Figures 2.2-2.3). That formal aspect of jia, the subject of several of the essays in the first section of this volume, allies it with the multimillennial Chinese architectural system. The house, moreover, is the oldest Chinese building form, for all indications are that evolving man built shelter before worship, group living, or kingship became parts of his life. The House as Chinese Architecture Not only because of age but structurally as well, the Chinese house has more in common with a Chinese temple or palace than with other architectural forms (Figure 2.4). All three are most often supported by a timber frame made of posts and lintels, or vertical and horizontal pieces of wood, and usually have a noticeably decorative roof (Figures 2.5-2.6). Sometimes the posts are implanted directly into the soil, and other times a stone platform into which the pillars or pillar bases are lodged elevates and separates the wood from the earth (Figure 2.7). In either case, like all wooden architecture, Chinese houses and related buildings are highly subject to fire and deterioration from natural forces. Still, from earliest times until today, houses and temples stand in every village and town of every county of every Chinese province, regardless of climate or terrain. Palaces are less common but may

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concept of a home is explicitly included in the term yuanzhai, or "garden-house." Larger gardens usually contain a number of ting [open courts in front of halls and lounges], as well as yuan [inner courts or courtyards formed by adjacent buildings and walls], which interweave with the house and garden into a harmonious whole (Figure 4.4). A home, or jia, is also popularly referred to asjiating [home-court] or jiayuan [home-garden] in order to reflect the intimate relationship between a home and its gardens. A commonly used term for a garden is huayuan, or "flower garden," a term that demands literally that flowers be planted, but a Chinese huayuan

i l

House and Garden

75

usually contains much more than just ornamental displays of flowering plants. Traditionally, a huayuan was composed of trees, rockeries, a pond or lake, zigzagging footpaths, winding corridors, bridges, and other garden structures for habitation, quiet viewing, and merrymaking in which the elements were arranged in such a way that they were often more artistically designed than nature itself. A fully developed garden, such as any of the literati gardens discussed below, is indeed an artistic recreation of nature and a landscape "painting" in three dimensions. For the Chinese, it may be said, a garden is an outdoor "living room," designed not only for the necessities of life, but for the art of living as well. Life in a Garden Gardens of many types have played an integral part in the lives of Chinese, and they were found in many parts of the country (Clunas 1996; Keswick and Hardie 2003; Valder 2003). In this chapter, only the private gardens of Jiangnan, the region that lies to the south of the Changjiang River in southeastern China, will be highlighted. Fig. 4.4. The simplicity and elegance of this courtyard [ting or yuan] in Wangshi Yuan, Suzhou, typifies the taste and aesthetic standard of the

Here, in the well-watered and prosperous "land of fish and rice," private gardens, also called literati gardens, were designed by or built for scholars who demanded simplicity, elegance, and poetic meaning in their personal worlds. Many of these exquisite gardens in Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou have disappeared because

Chinese literati of the time. Source:

of neglect and the ravages of time, but still other classical gardens continue to offer

Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

pleasure to countless visitors even as they no longer offer enjoyment exclusively to an individual family. Perhaps mirroring the real life experiences of their authors, many famous Chinese novels have used gardens as metaphorical barometers for the vicissitudes of the households who populate the stories, in which, for example, a flourishing garden reflects the prosperity of its household whereas its desolation indicates a family's decline. This can be seen clearly in the lavish eighteenth-century novel Hong lou meng, known in English as The Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone, in which the rise and decline of a powerful family is narrated; and the Ming novel Jin ping mei, known in English as The Golden Lotus. In the Daguan Yuan, or "Grand View Garden," which is depicted in Hong lou meng, the buildings (large and small), myriad pathways, pools and streams, and rockery, as well as the plants, all are symbolic elements in the privileged life of a gentry family. On the state of the nation, the Song dynasty scholar Li Gefei similarly observed that the rise of a garden culture mirrored a thriving empire, while its deterioration signaled the

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Joseph C. Wang

decline of a kingdom (Wong 2001). In this regard, the rise and fall of the extensive imperial garden complex called Yuanming Yuan in Beijing during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was among the most vivid testimonies of such a phenomenon in China's long history. Going back in time, literary accounts of the carefree lives of the hermits of the Wei (220-265) and Jin (265-420) dynasties not only affirm their contribution to landscape painting and poetry, but also shed light on the formulation of the literati gardens as breeding grounds for creativity and accomplishment. Seeking a good life in the company of their own kind, scholar-hermits regularly met in gardens and indulged in activities that may have included quietly meditating, philosophizing,

Fig. 4.5. A scene from Huan cui tang yuan jing tu depicting the "floating cup" game of drinking and poetry making, a popular

literary

event that started with Wang Xizhi's gathering at the Orchid Pavilion in 353 during the Eastern Jin dynasty. Source: Huan cui tang yuan jing tu [Garden scenes of the encircled Emerald Hall], a woodblock print produced between 1602 and 1605. From the author's collection.

composing and reading poetry, painting, playing the zither, concentrating on games of chess, sampling tea, drinking wine, fishing, boating, picking herbs for medicine, and making pills in pursuit of immortality, following Daoist practices. Solitude and cultivated socializing set precedents for later scholars and artists, as many of these fashionable and respected pastimes continued to be in vogue in garden culture well into Song, Ming, and Qing times (Figure 4.5). The Song dynasty painter and scholar Guo Xi summarized the requirements for a garden particularly well. In a garden, he stipulated, there must be scenery to be viewed, circuits to be followed, pleasure to be enjoyed, and residential spaces to be available. What follows is that to view the scenery, pavilions and terraces must be

House and Garden

77

Fig. 4.6. The covered pathway, or lang, in the western section of

Zhuozheng Yuan, Suzhou, provides views of the garden in motion. Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

built; to allow circulation, trails and paths must be built; to enjoy the garden, places must be created to facilitate poetry reading, fishing, boating, dancing, and feasting; and rooms and halls must be provided to accommodate literary friends for overnight stays. For the last, the ting or tang, both translated as "halls," xuan [lounges], guan [guest houses], lou [two-story buildings], a n d g e [two-story pavilions] were built to contain the library, entertainment, and sleeping quarters. Also, xie [waterside pavilions], fang [land boats], ting [pavilions], and lang [covered pathways] were constructed for viewing scenery and merrymaking (Figure 4.6). In addition to the above requirements, the Ming author and garden connoisseur Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645) set a high goal for the design of gardens. In his Changwuzhi, or Treatise of Superfluous Things, Wen demanded that the design should reach such a state of perfection that the experience of roaming in one would cause the roamer "to forget his age, forget to go home, and forget his fatigue." One such experience was recorded by the Ming scholar Qi Biaojia (1602-1645), who confessed, "I would go to the garden early in the morning and come back late at night and leave any domestic business to be attended to under the lamplight" (cited in Lin 1935, 334). Among the materials used for the enjoyment of a garden, wine appears to have been indispensable. In the celebration of a scene of unusual beauty in a garden, drink seemed to provide added incentive for writing poetry and playing music. The great Song poet Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) found happiness in his garden, as he often got drunk there while celebrating with his friends. He named the garden Zuiweng

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Joseph C. Wang

Ting, or "Old Drunkard's Pavilion," after himself, but he insisted that his real interest was not the wine but the mountains and streams. Intoxicated by the seasonal changes of the garden scenes, he recorded his pleasure in these words: "When the sun rises, the forest mists vanish, and when the clouds return, the crags and grottos fall into shadows; these alternations of light and darkness mark the mountain's dawns and dusks. As the wild flowers blossom, they send forth a subtle fragrance; as tall trees bloom, they yield deep shade; then the winds and frost are lofty and pure, the rivers dry up and their stones are exposed; these are the four seasons in the mountains" (cited in Egan 1984, 216). In such an earthly paradise Ouyang shared his leisurely life with occasional visits from his closest friends. "They may freely fish in the brook, which is deep and filled with meaty fish, or brew wine from the brook, whose water is fragrant and whose wine is clear. To have, in addition, mountain fruits and wild herbs arrayed before one; this is a feast" (cited in Egan 1984, 216). What a garden—and what a life! Literary accounts of the joys and pleasures of life in the Chinese garden are abundant, but Chen Fuyao, a Qing scholar, produced by far the most memorable narratives in his Huajing, or Flower Mirror, which was first published about 1688. His accounts, which read like an autobiography of a leisurely life, register the full extent of his seasonal itinerary in the setting of his naturalistic house garden. On a typical spring day, he notes the following: After getting up in the morning and drinking a cup of juice made from plum-flower petals, I went on to supervise the servants cleaning the garden paths and the house. Afterward, I read some books on seasonal planting and did maintenance work on the moss on the steps. Near noontime, I washed my hands with rose-scented cologne before lighting the delicate yu rui incense to refresh the house and also read some passages from the popular literature Chiwen liuzi. At noon, I went out in the garden and picked bamboo shoots and bracken as fuel to heat the springwater for the new tea leaves. In the afternoon, with a jug of wine and two oranges in hand, I rode my old horse to the bird sanctuary to hear orioles singing. Later in the afternoon, I sat under the willow tree and enjoyed the breeze while casually composing a few lines of poetry on my colorful personal stationery. My favorite pastimes in the evening were taking a walk along the garden path, supervising the gardeners' work on the flowerbeds, and feeding the storks and fish. (Cited in Yang 1988,71-72; my translation)

House and Garden

79

Although no family participation is mentioned and no delineation of physical features or scenes is offered, the natural beauty and the many accommodations in Chen's garden are implicit in these accounts. Nature was abundant and the owner content. Chen must have been blessed with the good fortune of having a spacious garden at his disposal all year round. Others may not have enjoyed such a luxury, but they led a good life in nature and with art in their own ways. One such person was Li Liweng (1611-1680), a dramatist, designer, epicure, musician, artist, and inventor. Li reported in Xianqing ouji, or A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts, that he had invented a picture window that he had named "landscape window" and had had one installed in his small garden, Jiezi Yuan, or "Mustard Seed Garden" (Figure 4.7). Behind his garden studio, Fubai Xuan, or "Studio of Frothy White" (a name that itself signified drinking), there stood a miniature landscape Li had designed for himself. The assemblage had "a hill about ten feet high and seven feet wide, decorated with miniature scenery of red cliffs and blue water, thick forests and tall bamboo, singing birds and falling cataracts, thatched huts and wooden bridges, complete in all the things that we see in a mountain village." Li made a window in the studio wall to accommodate the view and "sat there the whole day looking at it, and could not bear to close the winFig. 4.7. The "landscape

window"

dow." What followed was a sudden inspiration that led to his fuller enjoyment of

by Li Liweng. Source: Adapted from

the garden, art, and indeed life itself. His words record the serendipitous discovery

an illustration by Li Liweng.

of an "unintentional painting" and epitomize the art of living in a traditional Chinese garden: And one day inspired I said to myself, "This hill can be made into a painting, and this painting can be made into a window. All it will cost me will be just one day's drink money to provide the 'mounting' for this painting." I therefore asked a boy servant to cut out several pieces of paper, and pasted them above and below the window and at the sides, to serve as the mounting for a real picture. Thus the mounting was complete, and only the space usually occupied by the painting itself was left vacant, with the hill behind my house to take its place. Thus when one sits and looks at it, the window is no more a window, but a piece of painting, and the hill is no longer the hill behind my house but a hill in the painting. I could not help laughing out loud, and my wife and children, hearing my laughter, came to see it and joined in laughing at what I had been laughing at. This is the origin of the "unintentional painting," and the "landscape window." (Cited in Lin 1935, 272-273)

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Joseph C. Wang

Design and Composition In the world of Chinese gardens, no coherent theory of design was available until 1634, when Ji Cheng (1582-?) published his Yuan ye, or Manual of Garden Design.1 Ji, a painter and garden builder, was among a small number of first-generation professional gardeners who practiced their craft in the southeastern provinces of China during the late Ming dynasty. Yuan ye was in essence a summation of Ji's lifelong gardening practices and is the only early monograph on Chinese garden design and construction to have survived to the present. A collection of experiences rather than a system of theory and methods, Yuan ye is a reaffirmation of long-held conventions instead of a proposal for innovation and revolution: •

Ji advocates a natural look in the designed scenery, the creation of what might be called "land art" or "scenic art," so that "though man-made, it will look like something created naturally" (Ji 1932, vol. 1, On Gardens: 43). "Skill in landscape design is shown in the ability to 'follow' the lie of the land and 'borrow from' the existing scenery; artistic excellence is shown in the 'suitability' and 'appropriateness' created" in the garden's overall look (vol. 1, A Theory of Construction: 39).

•

The notion of "borrowed" scenery—from the surrounding and often distant environment beyond the confines of the garden's walls—in the design of a garden is perhaps Ji's single most important contribution. He encourages "borrowing scenery from the distance, near at hand, above you, below you, and at certain times of the year." Scenes in a garden also borrow from one another and are linked in a sequence or progression. In addition, the sounds, colors, and smells from a larger environment could be borrowed to enhance the enjoyment of a particular garden (vol. 3, ch. 6, On Borrowing Scenery: 121).

•

Ji's treatise offers clear and precise instructions on the importance of rockeries or hillocks, the piling up of "artificial hills": "If a single rock is set upright in the center as the 'chief stone' and two more rocks, known as 'split peaks,' are inserted on each side, the single one will stand in solitary magnificence and the lesser ones will act as supporters" (vol. 3, ch. 4, On Mountain-Building: 106).

•

It is significant, however, that the book makes no mention of plants as garden elements.

•

In the design process, Yuan ye underscores that the presentation of the garden's scenes should be given the greatest emphasis. In this regard, "The most important element in the layout of gardens is the siting of the principal buildings. The

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81

Fig. 4.8a-b.

a. Neither inlet nor outlet for the water can be seen along the main circulation route in Zhan Yuan, Nanjing.

Source: Photograph by

Joseph C. Wang 1985.

b. Ji Cheng's advice on the management of water in a Chinese garden: create an illusion to suggest that water comes from nowhere and that it is endless. Source: Original drawing by Gan Yuhui.

primary consideration is the view, and it is all the better if the buildings can face south" (vol. 1, ch. 2, Layout: 54). •

Rocks and water are considered by many Chinese gardeners, both before and after Ji's time, as the two most important elements in a garden. Ji counsels the garden designer to "build up mountains from the excavated soil and form embankments along the edges of the ponds," as well as that "high mounds can be further heightened and low-lying places should be dug deeper still." His advice on the management of water is most intriguing: "Water should be allowed to flow freely as if it had no end, and when it blocks your path, build a bridge across it." This statement can be interpreted to suggest that the shape of a pond should be such that neither inlet nor outlet for the water can be seen along the main circulation route (Figure 4.8). Where the source of the water must reveal itself, one should build a bridge to cover it. An illusion is thus created to suggest that water comes from nowhere and that it is endless (vol. 1, ch. 2, Layout: 55).

As outlined above, Yuan ye is intended to provide a general impression of how the Chinese garden is composed. While Ji's book contains design ideas and general guidelines, it fails to offer clearly defined methods and rules for creating a garden.

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Joseph C. Wang

However, suggestions of practical value and artistic interest to garden designers are readily available from an array of classical literature. One such useful source is a simple genre called xiaopinwen, essays by scholar-gardeners such as Wen Zhenheng, Chen Fuyao, and Li Liweng. Their casual yet enlightening writings (those quoted above among them) offer useful information on the conception and techniques of design, as well as on the creative ways in which gardens were appreciated. A little memoir by Shen Fu (1763-?), Fusheng liuji, or Six Chapters of a Floating Life, incorporates a discussion of what can be called the "art of deception" in scenery design for the Chinese garden. Shen suggests a bipolar formula—"showing the large in the small and the small in the large, providing for the real in the unreal and for the unreal in the real"—in which the beholder is simultaneously deceived and delighted as views are alternately revealed and concealed, making them sometimes apparent and sometimes hidden. In the chapter "The Little Pleasures of Life," Shen elaborates: In the big open spaces, plant bamboos that grow quickly and train plum trees with thick branches to cover them. This is to show the small in the large. When the courtyard is small, the wall should be a combination of convex and concave shapes, decorated with green, covered with ivy, and inlaid with big slabs of stone with inscriptions on them. Thus when you open your window, you seem to face a rocky hillside, alive with rugged beauty. This is to show the large in the small. Contrive so that an apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space and the kitchen leads through a back door into an unexpected courtyard. This is to provide for the real in the unreal. Let a door lead into a blind courtyard and conceal the view by placing a few bamboo trees and a few rocks. Thus you suggest something which is not there. Place low balustrades along the top of a wall so as to suggest a roof garden which does not exist. This is to provide for the unreal in the real. (Cited in Lin 1935,331) An anonymous writer offered an explicit prescription for the design of an approach to a common house garden that draws inspiration from Shen's concerns with viewing scenery and experiencing spaces: Inside the gate there is a footpath and the footpath must be winding. At the turning of the footpath there is an outdoor screen and the screen must be small. Behind the screen there is a terrace and the terrace must be level. On the banks of the terrace there are flowers and the flowers must be fresh. Beyond the flowers is a wall and the wall must be low. By the side of the wall,

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83

there is a pine tree and the pine tree must be old. At the foot of the pine tree there are rocks and the rocks must be quaint. Over the rocks there is a pavilion and the pavilion must be simple. Behind the pavilion are bamboos and the bamboos must be thin and sparse. At the end of the bamboos there is a house and the house must be secluded. (Cited in Lin 1937, 267) The early seventeenth-century writer Qi Biaojia characterized the process of garden design as one that was reiterative and accomplished by trial and error: In general, where there is too much space I put in a thing; where it is too crowded I take away a thing; where things cluster together I spread them out; where the arrangement is too diffuse I tighten it a bit; where it is difficult to walk upon I level it; and where it is level I introduce a little unevenness. It is like a good doctor curing a patient, using both nourishing and excitative medicines, or like a good general in the field, using both normal and surprise tactics. Again, it is like a master painter at his work, not allowing a single dead stroke. (Cited in Lin 1935,335) The design approaches of all three of these writers seem to fall within the framework of Ji's conceptualization and manipulation of space. In particular, Shen understood perfectly the principle of visual perception and had mastered the art of contrast, concealment, and suggestion in the design of his humble garden. Like many scholar-gardeners before him, the unnamed author demonstrated his expertise in luring the visitor through a maze of vistas embedded with optical temptations and surprises. Qi spoke of the true nature of the creative endeavor, which, much like producing a painting, used no formula or logic but was rooted in subjective and personal judgment, as well as feelings and vision. Whereas explicit statements concerning the methods of garden design are relatively rare in Chinese literature, theories of landscape painting abound and have guided garden design through the crucial stages of its long development. Landscape painting indeed was given the title "Mother of Garden Art" in recognition of the fact that the gardens and parks of ancient China were designed almost exclusively by painters. Records show that great painters such as Wang Wei (699-759) of the Tang dynasty, the Song emperor Huizhong, Ni Zan (1301-1374) of the Yuan dynasty, Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) of the Ming dynasty, and Shi Tao (Dao Ji or Tao-chi, 1641-ca. 1717) of the Qing dynasty left behind masterpieces that capture the moods and structures of famous gardens of their times. While their paintings served as the

84

Joseph C. Wang

Fig. 4.10. The whitewashed serves as a canvas, with the and rocks representing

wall bamboo

painting

on

it. Source: Ji Cheng 1988, 26. Fig. 4.9. A reconstructed showing a bird's-eye southern section Mountain

sketch

view of the ofPianshi

House. Source: Wu 1992.

Redrawn by Wang Gang.

inspiration for garden designers, the artists themselves also participated in the design and construction of landscape gardens. Wang Wei's villa at Wangchuan, a hermitage designed for his use, is recorded in a twenty-one scene horizontal scroll, while the ruins of a rockery peak in Yangzhou's Pianshi Shanfang, or "Pianshi Mountain House," which was designed by Shi Tao, are still visible today (Figure 4.9). A landscape artist approached garden design the same way he would execute a piece of landscape painting in that both a garden and a painting were inspired by the beauty of nature and circumstantial sentimentality. The interplay between painting and the garden arts was best described by Ji in Yuan ye: "Treat the whitewashed wall as if it were paper, and the rocks as painting upon it" (Ji 1988,109) (Figure 4.10). The formation of rockery, in particular, was significantly influenced by and benefited from painting. Kan Duo, a modern-day scholar, commented on this relationship in his foreword to the 1932 edition of Yuan ye: "Mountain-building in a garden derived its art from painting in that the painter uses brushes and ink, while the rockery artist employs rocks and earth as design media. Whereas the media they use are different, the principle of design is the same" (Ji 1932,18). As Ji advises, among other things, a garden designer could learn from painters to "study

House and Garden

85

a Fig. 4.11. The textured strokes of rocks and mountains by various painters were used as models for building artificial hills in gardens. Source: Huang 1986.

the natural cracks in the stone, and imitate the brushwork of the old masters" (Figure 4.11). In fact, at the height of garden art during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the most popular mountain-building approach used modeling after the texture strokes (cunfa) and pictorial compositions of the master painters of the Yuan dynasty, which immediately preceded. In the works of the Four Great Literati

Fig. 4.12. A geometric opening in Cuilinglong, or "Delicate Emerald Hall,"in Canglangting, Suzhou.

Painters of the Yuan dynasty, the mountains of Huang Gongwang (1269-1354),

Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang

Ni Zan was famous for his depiction of withered trees in combination with bamboo

1985.

Fig. 4.13. A circular window in Tuisi Yuan, Suzhou. Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

composed of small pieces of crystal, appear grandiose and heavy; the innumerable mountains and valleys by Wang Meng (ca. 1308-1385) are misty and finely crafted. and rocks. His composition was simple and sparse, yet it projected a strong sentiment of loneliness and sadness. The broad, misty, and remote mountain views by Wu Zhen (1285-1354) added to the rich palette of ideas and patterns from which garden makers freely drew in their work. The principles of painting—specifically the syntax of painting composition— have been directly and successfully applied to garden design. In Chinese painting, conventional formats include the vertical and horizontal, the handscroll, and the juxtaposition of individual frames, in addition to fan-shaped, circular, octagonal,

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Joseph C. Wang

Fig. 4.14. A framed view from Wuzhuyouju, or "The Secluded Pavilion amid Wutong and Bamboo," in Zhuozheng Yuan, Suzhou. Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

Fig. 4.1S. A moon gate framing the view beyond. Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

and other geometrical formats. Deliberately and thoughtfully, these geometrical forms are employed in the window-like openings that are part of the architectural elements of the garden in order to frame scenes (Figures 4.12-4.15). Thus a garden can be experienced as a three-dimensional painting in which pictures—mini-composed scenes—are framed by a variety of devices, including windows (as seen in Figure 4.16) and openings in the garden walls (Figure 4.17). As a visitor moves along a garden path, scenes will unfold in a progression of space and time much as if a handscroll were being unrolled for viewing (Figure 4.18). As opposed to the Renaissance perspective technique, in which one, two, or three vanishing points are used in creating a picture, Chinese painters utilized scattered, or multiple, vanishing points in perspective drawing, a principle that was also employed in Chinese garden design. Utilizing this versatile technique of using as many vanishing points as deemed necessary to depict a particular scene, Chinese artists were able to enjoy complete freedom in content selection, sequencing, layout, and composition (Figure 4.19). Based on impressions and feelings about the task at hand, this freedom of movement, as well as the placement and sequencing of the "pictures," greatly benefited the design of gardens and parks. A cherished goal House and

Garden

87

Fig. 4.16. Some of the tracery windows used in Chinese gardens. Source: Liu 1993, 288.

(> c LA v Fig. 4.17. Various shapes of gates, often generically referred to as "moon gates," are used in Chinese gardens. Source: Liu 1993, 290.

Fig. 4.18. The present-day

entrance

to Liu Yuan, Suzhou, with its ¡00foot passage, embodies the essence of the design principles of a Chinese garden.

Source: Photographs by

Joseph C. Wang 1985 and layout by Xu )un.

Fig. 4.19. This imaginary panorama ofDaguan Yuan, or "Grand View Garden, "from The Dream of the Red Chamber provides a good example of the versatility of the scattered vanishing point technique in perspective drawing. Source: Shitouji [The story of the Stone]. Courtesy of Shanghai Tushu Guan Cang (Collection of the Shanghai Library).

HJffif';*^'

of the scholar-gardener was to use his creation as a vehicle to embody and convey a specific set of shi qing huayi, literally "poetic sentiments and artistic conceptions." While poetry and landscape painting were believed to be the most effective tools for achieving these goals, the qing [sentiment or feeling], best expressed in a poem, and theyi [conception or idea], best intimated in a landscape painting, helped guide the design objectives for garden schemes as well. As a result, the enormous wealth of hua lun, or "theories of painting," together with poems and prose from the past, became bounteous resources at the disposal of a garden designer. Although there is no standardized process for the creation of a garden, an example of a design was developed from the southern courtyard of Zhan Yuan, an early Ming dynasty garden located in Nanjing (Figure 4.20). The procedure and sequence exhibited in this illustration do not necessarily reflect the actual process by which Zhan Yuan was designed and built since no such document ever existed in Chinese garden history. Yet as an academic exercise, it demonstrates reasonably well the genesis and evolution of a traditional Chinese garden design: a. Once a site was selected, invariably the first decision was to establish the location and orientation of the main hall. Ideally, the hall was to be located in the northern section of the garden, facing south when possible, and overlooking the best scenes that the garden would provide. House and Garden

89

Fig. 4.20. A garden design process reconstructed.

Source: Adapted from

Wang 1981,132.

r Hidden Source of Spring

b. Next, high walls were laid up along the perimeter of the garden proper in order to enclose it. Critical elements, such as mature and old trees and rockery formations or artificial hills, were maintained and positioned. The heights of the main hall, trees, and rocks were decided to allow the proper "borrowing," in Ji Cheng's terms, of scenes from above and beyond the garden itself. c. Spaces within the garden were skillfully subdivided to make a small garden appear large and multiply the variety of scenery found in it. Subdivision was the key to the creation of a sense of boundlessness within a limited site. d. As a final touch for the composition, a body of water, usually a pond, was excavated and linked to channels of water coursing above and below ground. Pond water as well as circulating water was an indispensable element since it not only contrasted with the rockery and provided a mirrored image of scenic objects, but it also gave life to and mobilized the static artificial hills in a garden scene. e. Latticed windows made of wood, stone, and brick were used to lure the visitor into the garden's space. A moon gate and other geometric openings were often employed to frame scenes within the garden and to create the illusion of depth. As a rule, no cul-de-sac or dead end was permitted in any garden space, so path-

90

Joseph C. Wang

Fig. 4.21. A view of Gu Mu Jiao Ke, or "Intertwined Ancient Tree," in Liu Yuan, Suzhou. Here the garden spaces and pathways seem to continue in forward motion with no cul-de-sacs.

Source: Photograph

by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

ways always seemed to continue in forward motion (Figure 4.21). The visitor was never allowed to see the panoramic whole of the Chinese garden at the outset since it was only in a carefully designed sequence of the hidden, the peeking, Fig. 4.22. Simple techniques used in designing a sequence of garden

and the revealed that scenes of enchantment would emerge along routes of movement and at observation spots (Figure 4.22).

scenes. Source: Original drawing by

To complete the design, the final step was to hide the source of the pond and

Mac Mengzhou Liu.

to conceal the footpath amid the traces of imagined mountains and valleys.

Hidden

Semi-closed

Semi-opened

Screened

Partially Seen

House and

Garden

I

Exposed

91

Self- Expressions In a scholar's garden, literary inscriptions are integral components of its composition. Scenes and poetry are employed to complement each other in order to give the viewer the fullest possible appreciation of a landscape. Thus, poetry was traditionally incorporated into a garden scheme in order to invoke a semantic dimension, or meaning, in the garden's scenes. While complete calligraphic texts might be used, single Chinese characters and phrases were usually sufficient to evoke a more comprehensive meaning for the cognoscenti. For example, the name of the Yuanxiang Tang, or "Hall of Distant Fragrance," in Zhuozheng Yuan, "the Humble Administrator's Garden," in Suzhou, was taken from the verse "fragrance in the distance makes it even more pure and distinct," a reference from the popular treatise Ailian shuo, The Love of Lotus, by the Song dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi (Figure 4.23). A followup verse, "growing out of muddy waters yet remaining uncontaminated," was read with equal attention to its meaning. The association of Zhou's first verse with the building tells the visitor that there are fragrant flowers at a distance from the hall. Even though no specific plant is mentioned by name, the second verse hints that lotus blossoms give off the fragrance. Submerged in this mental context, any knowledgeable beholder with a highly refined taste would be all the more appreciative of the prominence of Yuanxiang Tang as one of the major scenic spots in the Zhuozheng Yuan. Already distinct due to its relative size and central location, its distinction was further enhanced by the presence of lotus blossoms and the recognition of their standing as central symbols of Buddhism.

Fig. 4.23. A summer scene at Yuanxiang Tang, or "Hall of Distant Fragrance, " in Zhuozheng Yuan, "the Humble

Administrator's

Garden, " Suzhou. Source: Photograph by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

In China, each garden bears a name, much like a painting has a distinctive title. The name was usually elegantly calligraphed and prominently inscribed on the garden gate, and it reflected the character of the garden, as well as the disposition of its owner-designer. The Ge Yuan in Yangzhou, for instance, has an apparently simple name, composed of a single character meaning "one" or "single," followed by the character for "garden." At the equally simple moon-shaped entrance, several shapely clumps of bamboo adorn the entryway against the white garden wall. The two Chinese characters "Ge Yuan," as seen in Figure 4.24, are inscribed horizontally in rectangular relief above the gate. At first glance, the pictorial composition appears plain and unpretentious, and few would be able to comprehend the subtlety behind this seemingly ordinary facade. The key rests with the character ge The calligraphic shape of ge resembles one-half of the Chinese character zhu t t , or bamboo, the symbol of unyielding integrity in the Chinese mind. By implication and thus indirectly, Huang Yingtai, who was the first owner of Ge Yuan, no doubt considered himself the single and only remaining bamboo branch left in a troubled world. Through the naming of his garden, he wanted others to appreciate his good character. Assigning names to gardens, as well as to the buildings and scenery within them, Fig. 4.24. The entrance to Ge Yuan,

began as early as the Qin and Han dynasties and has since become an integral part

Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Source: Photo-

of garden design in China. Chinese characters are ubiquitous visual elements through-

graph by Xu Dejia 1976.

out gardens and function as much more than a mere ornamentation of line and

Fig. 4.25. Couplets that adorn a translucent latticed window in Ou

texture. Brief names, antithetical couplets, poems, and chronicles about the garden were written in ink or carved on specially designed boards and tablets that were

Yuan, Suzhou. Source: Photograph

hung in either horizontal or vertical formats (Figure 4.25). In addition, literary

by Joseph C. Wang 1985.

expressions were added to upright stone tablets, steles, rocks, and cliffsides within

the garden and in nearby scenic spots. Aside from their ornamental value, these inscriptions served—and continue to serve—as a kind of guidebook for the garden visitor. Of course, and perhaps more important, they originally provided the owner-designer and his literary colleagues many opportunities to show off their erudition and skill in both calligraphy and poetry writing. Literati gardens often held deeply rooted negative messages in that their owners frequently built them as expressions of denial, self-protection, and seclusion in response to the bufferings of the unstable and chaotic society in which they lived. Historical evidence has shown that most owner-designers of literati gardens were intellectuals who had experienced setbacks in their governmental careers. It is not surprising, then, that there is an overriding anti-establishment sentiment and a defensive mentality surrounding the art and craft of garden building. More often than not, the prevalent message was, "The court has wronged me." Gardens, therefore, were not only retreats in the owners' exile, but also appropriate vehicles for members of the intelligentsia to tell stories that had not been told, air grievances that had not been disclosed, describe dreams that had not been fulfilled, and propose visions that had not materialized. In other words, intellectuals used their private gardens as an art form to express their opinions about the affairs of the world, much as they used poetry to air their inner feelings. For fear of retaliation and punishment by the imperial court, they used language that was negative yet subtle, sarcastic yet indirect, and melancholy yet proud. Although tinted with its owner's emotions, a private garden embodied universal ideals that strove for oneness with nature and transcended the confines of a small, enclosed microcosm. In this way, a literati garden was the antithesis of its imperial counterpart. Aside from marital bliss, the Chinese also traditionally cherished lasting friendship as a form of romance. Tongyin Guan, or "Music from the Tong Tree Guesthouse," in Nanking's Xu Yuan, or "Warm Garden," has a moving story behind its name. The guesthouse was surrounded on all sides by tong trees—tall, soft-wooded, smooth-barked deciduous trees with leaves that are heart-shaped; these features together give clues to the significance of the story. According to the narratives in Lushi chunqiu, or Lu's Annals of Spring and Autumn, Yu Boya, a high-ranking official during the Spring and Autumn (770-476 B.C.), was an accomplished amateur zither player who regularly practiced his art in a secluded wilderness. His only admirer was a hermit named Zhong Ziqi, who lived in the mountains as a woodsman. Over the years, a deep friendship developed between the musician and his faithful audience, as Ziqi was able to appreciate fully the hidden messages in Boya's music. The "romance," however, abruptly ended when Ziqi suddenly died of 94

Joseph C. Wang

poverty. Out of profound sadness, Boya broke his instrument and never played again. Since the wood of the tong tree was known as one of the best materials for making Chinese string instruments, the Xu Yuan's owner planted tong trees around the guesthouse and named it Tongyin Guan in the absence of a faithful admirer and in honor of Ziqi. Did he also miss his sole admirer? Members of the Chinese intelligentsia, both in the imperial service and in everyday life, passionately protected personal integrity as their most valued and cherished virtue. When the integrity of one of them was violated, he turned to poetry writing and garden building as suitable vehicles for airing grievances and clearing his name. Such instances are numerous and legendary. The building of the Ge Yuan, as mentioned above, is but one example. By naming his garden as he did, Huang Yingtai has come to be known in history as a man who cherished honesty and justice. A similar story involving several of Suzhou's famous gardens and a wise angler of the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.) is equally revealing. After the great poet and statesman Qu Yuan (ca. 340-ca. 278 B.C.) was sent into exile by the king of Chu, he met a fisherman one day at the riverbank, and their discussion led to a conversation about the causes of Qu's apparent unhappiness. Describing his personal circumstances, Qu recited the famous verses from the Chuci, or Songs of Chu: "While the whole world is corrupt, I am the only one who is clean; while the whole world is drunk, I am the only one who is sober." Sympathetic and laughing, the fisherman responded, singing, "If the cang lang [blue waves] were clean, I would wash my tassel in them and join in to serve the King; if the cang lang were muddy, I would wash my feet in them and enjoy a carefree hermit life instead" (my translations). The term cang lang, taken from the fisherman's song, was later adopted for Canglangting Yuan, or "Surging-Wave Pavilion Garden," the oldest surviving garden in Suzhou. The story of Qu Yuan inspired the design of other gardens in Suzhou as well, including Xiaocanglang Ting, or "Little Canglang Pavilion," in Zhuozheng Yuan and in Yi Yuan, as well as the Zhuoying Shuige, or "Washing-Tassel Water Pavilion," in Wangshi Yuan. In memory of the fisherman, another garden in Suzhou was named Yuying Yuan, or "Fisherman Hermit Garden," whose name later was changed to Wangshi Yuan, or "Master of the Nets Garden," a clear reference to the fisherman. Chinese scholar-painters—in contrast to the grandiose ambitions of the emperors—appeared to shun wealth and power, preaching instead a doctrine of simplicity and naturalness as the most meaningful lifestyle. Chuyue Xuan, "Hoe-Moon Lounge," in the Yi Yuan garden in Suzhou, suggested ridding the rice fields of House and Garden

95

Fig. 4.26. Illustration

of a bucolic

scene by Dao Ji (1641-ca.

1717) for

an episode of The Peach Blossom Spring, by Tao Qian (also as Tao Yuanming). handscroll,

known

Section of a

ink and color on paper,

9 7/8 in. Source: Used with the permis-

weeds, and the Huafeng Zhai, "Painted Pleasure boathouse," in many private gardens symbolized a safeguard against undesirable, usually political, storms, much like Noah's Ark in the biblical story. A simple life, good social relations, and clean politics were an integral part of the scholar's often unfulfilled lifelong ambitions and wishes. Of all the poets mentioned so far in this discussion, Tao Qian of the Jin dynasty was perhaps the most influential in bringing visionary ideals to garden design.

sion of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smith-

Living and working during one of the most troubled times in Chinese history,

sonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

he became a symbol of hope and solace when he published a heart-throbbing and

(Purchase F1957.4).

celebrated work entitled Taohua yuan ji, The Peach Blossom Spring (Figure 4.26). Using fablelike prose, Tao described how a fisherman accidentally discovered a happy land as he was rowing aimlessly one day along a stream: He suddenly came to a grove of peach trees in bloom. For several hundreds of paces on both banks of the stream there was no other kind of tree. The fragrant flowers were fresh and beautiful; fallen petals lay in rich profusion. . . . Where the [blossoming peach] grove ended at the stream's source there stood a hill, in which there was a small o p e n i n g . . . . At first extremely n a r r o w , . . . it opened out into a broad, level plain where houses and huts stood neatly, with rich fields and lovely ponds, mulberries, bamboos and the like. The field dikes crisscrossed; chickens and dogs could be heard from farm to f a r m . . . . White-haired elders and children with hair in flowing tufts were all happily enjoying themselves. When [the people] saw the fisherman, they were greatly surprised.... Then they invited him to their home, setting out wine and killing a chicken to prepare a m e a l . . . . They said their ancestors

96

Joseph C. Wang

fled from the troubles of Qin t i m e s . . . [and] asked what dynasty it was now; they knew nothing of the existence of the Han, let alone the Wei or the Jin. (Cited in Kwong 1994, 51) The narrative of The Peach Blossom Spring, unlike pure fantasy, dwells on the description of a simple village community that is in appearance down to earth and familiar even to "outsiders." Poised between the poles of fact and fiction, Tao was able to stimulate the imaginations of centuries of poets and painters, as well as the designers of gardens, as they set out to create Utopias according to their own emotions and agendas. As the examples above clearly illustrate, a garden can be read as a metaphysical embodiment of an ideal romance (as in the story of Tongyin Guan in Nanjing), an ideal character (as in the cases of Ge Yuan, Canglangting Yuan, and Wangshi Yuan), an ideal ambition (as with Chuyue Xuan and Huafang Zhai), and an ideal world (as in the Utopia in Tao Qian's Taohua yuan ji). In such displays of selfexpression, the qing, or "feelings captured while 'flowing' from literature," and the jing, or "forms embodied in scenery 'projecting' out of visual images," are merged into one (Sun 1982, 46). In the midst of urban chaos, a scholar-gardener was able to carve out for his family and himself an oasis in which he was able to indulge in sensual delight, artistic enrichment, and spiritual uplift. While gardens served in this way as sanctuaries for the bodies and minds of privileged dwellers, they also created an extended "living room," where fresh air and sunlight were abundant, guests were entertained, and children played. Often designed with the same careful thought given to the composition of a landscape painting, a Chinese garden took shape through the utilization of time-tested principles of spatial organization and visual perception. As with poetry and painting, scholarship and sophistication must be employed to fully appreciate these works of art. Nonetheless, the charm and natural beauty as well as the practical function of Chinese literati gardens can be readily enjoyed by everyone.

This chapter is an abridged and rewritten version of The Chinese Garden, by Joseph C. Wang (1998). The author gratefully acknowledges the permission of Oxford University Press (China) to use the published material. This essay is dedicated to the happy memories of June Kuokiang Wang (1938-1999), who always shared my joy in writing about Chinese gardens and architecture. 1. Yuan ye was translated into English by Alison Hardie (1988) as The Craft of Gardens.

House and

Garden

R O N A L D

G.

K N A P P

5

Siting and Situating a Dwelling Fengshui, House-Building Rituals, and Amulets

Even as the popularity offengshui in rural and urban China persists, the public at large and scholars elsewhere in the world have increased their interest in it. Countless fengshui guidebooks and manuals in Chinese as well as other languages— Bulgarian, Czech, Hebrew, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish (among others) in addition to abundant titles in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese—attest not only to global awareness of a rather abstruse set of Chinese beliefs, but also to their enduring credibility. While much attention focuses on how fengshui can assist people in increasing their wealth, happiness, and longevity, there also is substantial concern for pursuing "a better life," "clearing your clutter," "love and romance," "well-being," "balance and harmony," "trouble-free remodeling," "helping children thrive," "improving relationships," "healing," "manipulating one's destiny," "and business success." Yet it is important to note that the precepts of fengshui are fundamentally rooted in the action of siting and situating a building—that is, choosing an auspicious location, a spatial setting— rather than the mere pursuit of bliss. A spatial setting involves two fundamental geographic attributes: a "site"—the actual space occupied by the structure—and its "situation"—the location of the site in relation to its broader surroundings. Traditionally, certain sites and situations for the structures of a particular family or lineage were viewed as more favorable than others, according to basic fengshui axioms, and a proper choice would then influence, perhaps even control, the fortunes and general benefits that would redound to those who occupied a structure built on the site. This self-conscious attention to siting and situating houses—as well as palaces, temples, and graves—manifests many aspects of traditional beliefs, including aspirations and fears. Some of these actions and efforts are conspicuously apparent in the character of individual dwellings, while many others are less obvious though no less significant. The conceptual roots offengshui are found in ancient classics such as the Shijing [Book of songs] and the Shujing [Book of documents], as well as other fragmentary texts, that reach back to the Zhou period (1100-770

B.C.).

Taken together, they

reveal some of the cosmo-symbolic conventions and practices for locating imperial

99

Fig. 5.1. This page from a almanac

printed

dated 877 was found

temple in Dunhuang

in

ern China. In addition

in a

northwestto dos and

don'ts in the vertical columns, page includes a drawing rangular

courtyard

house,

ating the main gate, well, storage, etc. to the directions

the

of a quadassocilatrine,

twenty-four

that are arrayed

around

it. Source: By permission of the British Library, Or.82io/P.6.

capitals and palaces. Fengshuís hold on the consciousness of common Chinese as they cope with decisions to modify the environments within which they live, however, is of more recent origin. 1 It is this powerful hold oifengshui practices on common people, who apply them at different scales in the search for auspicious sites for houses, graves, gardens, temples, and other buildings, as well as complete settlements, that is the focus of this chapter. Throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, popular almanacs provided points of access, a common lore, for the general public to the arcane features of divination, which was based upon correlative cosmology and of which fengshui was but one part (Figure 5.1). Although it is not easy to document the means by which Chinese villagers and townsfolk employed fengshui in the past, the results were subsequently readily observable in countless rural and urban landscapes. Traditional dwellings and villages throughout China today—in remote areas as well as in cosmopolitan centers—continue to be interpreted as having been sited via the elaborate application offengshui esoterica, even if there is scant historical evidence of the actions themselves. In spite of the appealing and harmonious nature of many of these

100

Ronald G. Knapp

building sites and structures, as well as even the demonstrated good fortune of the inhabitants occupying them, it is nonetheless rarely clear that fengshui precepts were applied contemporaneously when the sites were selected. All too often, there is evidence of an after-the-fact application offengshui ideas to structures already sited and built, thus leading to statements of lore based upon retrospective fengshui explanations that are "more convincing than [their] prospective counterpart," according to remarks by Freedman regarding burial sites (1966,129). Moreover, it is important to recognize that Chinese elites and others who might have employed fengshui—whatever

its ostensible authority over the ages—also have disdained it,

even as they have used its explanatory metaphors (Xu 2000, 235). With the caveats that local practices diverge and that manuals and texts present often contradictory statements, it is still possible and useful to sketch out some of the core concepts and common applications regarding fengshui. With little thought to cosmological abstraction and theoretical constructs, even illiterate peasants, moreover, seem to have considered fengshui as they built their simple dwellings. Centuries ago, when the countryside was relatively unpopulated, the search for a suitable—even ideal— spatial setting for a house or grave often took a good deal of time. Today in China, while public interest in fengshui has increased significantly, even as the government has stigmatized it as "feudal superstition," the challenges of choosing auspicious sites in heavily built up and densely populated villages and towns are clearly easier to ponder than to carry out (Bruun 1996, 47-65, 2003; Knapp 1999b, 158-171). Literally meaning "wind and w a t e r f e n g s h u i is a modern colloquial expression of elaborated general ideas that encapsulates the more abstruse principles associated with earlier esoteric terms. Buzhai [divination of a house site], kanyu [cover and support and canopy of heaven and the chariot of earth], and dili [earth truth or land pattern, which is used today for the discipline of geography] are but three of a very large number of centuries-old terms employed as synonyms for fengshui. Fengshui is usually translated into English as "geomancy," but many specialists have found this term inadequate, offering some interesting alternatives—"topomancy" (Feuchtwang 1974, 2); "astro-ecology" and "topographical siting" (Bennett 1978, 2>; "siting" (Smith 1991,131); "ecomancy" (Rossides 1982); "mystical ecology" (Knapp 1986,108-109);

an

d "natural science of the landscape" (Berglund 1990,

240). Whatever the benefit of any of these terms, the Chinese term fengshui will be used in an untranslated form in this chapter. The essence of fengshui is a universe animated by the interaction of yin and yang, in which an ethereal property known as qi [life breath or cosmic energy;

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

101

also called shengqi] gives character and meaning to a place at whatever the scale— city, town, village, residence, gravesite, etc. At an elementary level, each place exemplifies eitheryin or yang characteristics. Yet since sites usually exhibit both traits simultaneously and both yin and yang are intrinsically positive and beneficial, neither should be found in excess or in equilibrium. Yin sites, which are optimal for burial, frequently fall away from the sun to the north or northwest and render the female aspect, passivity and darkness, as well as the Earth and moon. The divination of a suitable grave site or yinzhai [an abode for the dead] using fengshui idioms has a long history of bringing good fortune to those continuing to live and "comfort" to those who occupy the yinzhai (Ahern 1973; Freedman 1966). In addition, locating a building site for a dwelling for the living, ayangzhai, as well as for a settlement such as a village—in a quest for benefits for those who are alive— similarly has been defined in both popular lore and written manuals. Approaches to fengshui By late imperial times, two basic approaches characterized fengshui, one stressing cosmic patterns and principles and the other their manifestations on the surface of the Earth: the former, the Compass School, also called the Analytical School [Liqi Zong or Fangwei Zong], depended upon complicated calculations; the latter, the somewhat older Configurations School, also called the Forms School [Xingshi Zong], was visually and intuitively based and emphasized topographical landscape features. Initially the schools may have been quite distinct, but over time and in practice their individual approaches came to be blurred as intuition and theory regarding celestial and terrestrial phenomena commingled with the realities of actual landscapes. Both schools are associated with traditions and practices that originated in southern China, especially Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang provinces. Emphasis in Jiangxi province was on the character of terrain, especially mountains and watercourses, while in Fujian and Zhejiang the use of a complicated luopan, or "compass," dominated. Whatever the school, the application offengshui principles in very different geographic environments—the vast plains of North China, the restricted plots in the canal region of Jiangnan, the areas of rugged terrain throughout South China—led to a mélange offengshui notions and conventions that sometimes defy any attempt to discern consistencies. Like various other forms of Chinese fate calculation, site selection is personalized by using eight Chinese characters, or bazi, consisting of one stem and one branch associated with an individ-

102

Ronald G. Knapp

ual's year, month, day, and hour of birth; these are then coordinated with a specific direction. Fengshui shares with traditional Chinese medicine a concern for equilibrium and harmony in order to obviate misfortune and offers as well prescriptions to "treat" perceived deficiencies. In addition to the determination of the optimal spatial aspects of a building site, attention traditionally was also paid to the temporal dimension—propitious timing—of building activities by consulting almanacs (Hwangbo 2002; Smith 1991,131-171; 1992). Compass School of fengshui. Utilizing his diagnostic as well as prognostic faculties, an "interpreter of wind and water" [fengshui xiansheng, among many other similar names]—sometimes simply called a geomancer in English and as often a professional as an amateur—provided access to this mystical ecology. As depicted in Figure 5.2, a fengshui practitioner in traditional China armed himself with a dishlike luopan, several manuals, and often a copy of the Yijing [Book of changes] in order to investigate the characteristics of a building site. Perambulating around the prospective building site, he approached the task with solemnity and mystery. "About all their movements there is an air of classic decorum," observed a Westerner at the end of the imperial period who disdained fengshui as mere superstition, "and it is no wonder, therefore, that the masses regard the geomancers as fountains of wisdom, marvels of learning, capable of fathoming all the mysteries of heaven and earth" (De Groot 1892-1910,3:1010). Today, however, the practitioner "usually dresses in plain working clothes and lives in an unimpressive house which does not display his trade. He has the appearance of a craftsman . . . although his vocabulary contains a large number of terms that commoners do not understand" (Bruun 1996, 53). Today in China, one seeks recommendations from family and friends in order to locate suitable fengshui xiansheng, while in Taiwan and Hong Kong they can be found in Yellow Page telephone directories and via websites. The luopan, also called luojing, is a saucerlike block of wood with a magnetized south-pointing needle at its center; hence the appellation "compass" (Figure 5.3). Yet the luopan is much more than a device for finding directions. Incorporated within it are not only the yin-yang symbol, but also at least a dozen—and ranging between three and nearly fifty—inscribed concentric rings, which in sum integrate the full scope of interrelating celestial and terrestrial relationships that comprise Chinese metaphysics. Among the multitude of cosmic variables embraced by the circular bands are the taiji symbol, the duality o f y i n and yang, the four seasons, the Five Phases, the Eight Trigrams [Bagua], the Nine Constellations, the Ten Heavenly

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

103

ÄpP^

r

Fig. 5.3. With a magnetized,

south-pointing

needle at its center, the saucerlike luopan has a series of inscribed concentric rings expressing the range of interrelated celestial and terrestrial

relationships

that comprise

Chinese

metaphysics. Source: Collection of Ronald G. Knapp.

Fig. 5.2. Utilizing a luopan, mancer's compass, a

orgeo-

traditional

Stems, the Twelve Earthly Branches, the Duodenary and Sexagenary Cycles, and the twenty-eight constellations. Manipulating the luopan, practitioners of

fengshui practitioner

and his assis-

the Compass School draw upon logical associations as well as intuition in making

tants investigate the

characteristics

their decisions. They manipulate the cosmological correspondences among the

of a building site. Source: Sun 1905, 32/2b.

ring complexes, especially numerical and correlative associations, in order to divine the potentialities of building sites and avoid the adversity arising from incorrect judgments. Forms School of fengshui. In some respects, the Forms (or Configurations) School, with its emphasis on the lay of the land, is easier to comprehend than the abstruse correlations of the Compass School. For novices as well as the initiated, there often is an aesthetic logic to many of the landscape sites chosen by practitioners of this school, with both describing sites as "comfortable" and "suitable," in terms of the Chinese word shufu, and often enchantingly beautiful: "At a true site . . . there is a touch of magic l i g h t . . . . The hills are fair, the waters fine, the sun handsome, the breeze mild; and the sky has a new light: another world. Amid confusion, peace; amid peace, a festive air. Upon coming into its presence, one's eyes are opened; if one sits or lies, one's heart is joyful. Here the breath gathers, and the essence collects" (quoted in March 1968, 259).

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Ronald G. Knapp

Metaphorical expressions and vivid imagery are abundant in the Forms School, with manuals that emphasize the shape of hills and diagrams of a multiplicity of terrain patterns. Basic hill and water configurations that are related to the Wuxing, or Five Agents (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), are shown in Figure 5.4; by association they are related with the five planets so that "the terrestrial configurations are in agreement with the celestial order" [xingfengpeitian].

Because the transmutative

Five Agents are capable of producing or destroying, any association is also assumed to have the same capacities, the effect of which is made complex by the fact that these capabilities wax and wane through a twelve-stage cycle, repeating itself five times, and thus resulting in an extraordinary number of permutations. Mountains loom large in fengshui discourse, even when a landscape is in reality quite flat, perhaps because of an ancient veneration of mountains. Fengshui interpreters often begin at a macro-scale in which they attempt to link "dragon veins" [longmai] as they reach from the Kunlun Mountain through "grandparent" and "parent" mountains, diminishing in elevation and extent as they reach a specific local building site (Figures 5.5-5.7). Nearby topographical features, called "local eminences," or sha, include elevated ridges and watercourses, which are often painstakingly analyzed and distinguished. The use of the term sha, meaning "sand," is believed to stem from the fact that fengshui practitioners once shared ideas with their students by forming ridges and valleys of sand on the ground in order to model exemplary configurations. An optimal location was one in which "yin was at one's back and embraced by yang, with ridges to the back and facing water" (fuyin bao yang, beishan mian shui). Via correlative thinking, cardinal directions could be identified with one of the "four spiritual animals" [si shen or si shou] and then linked to terrain features: To the east is the azure dragon [qinglong] and the element wood, symbolizing spring, the rising sun, and the birth of yang. To the south is the vermilion phoenix [zhuque], representing the element fire, indicating summer and the period of maximum yang. To the west is the white tiger [baihuj, associated with the element metal, symbolizing autumn and harvest and the birth of yin. Completing the cycle in the north is the black tortoise [xuanwu], representing the element water, winter, and maximum yin. Man was to be anchored in the soil or earth, the fifth agent/element in the center of the cosmic map. The center is considered a fifth "direction," thus resulting in the correlation of five directions with the Five Agents, which are sometimes called the Five Phases. In addition to the four cardinal directions and the center, four corner directions between sets of cardinal points are recognized and thus

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

105

Fig. 5.4. The shapes of hills

jfj!it

are related to the Five Agents, or Wuxing— wood, fire, earth, metal,

k

and water. Source: Adapted from Dixue tanyuan 1966.

t

' 1 * * -*» 5.5b

5.5a

*

*

±

*

&

Fig. 5.5a-c.

a. Schematic drawings

representing

(from left to right) wood, fire, earth, water, and metal are sometimes given shape in the upper gable walls, called "mountain walls," or shan qiang, of houses in southern b. This gable configuration sents wood. Shenzhen,

5.5c

China. repre-

Guangdong.

Source: Photograph by Ronald G. Knapp 2000. c. Metal is represented in this gable ornamentation.

Taibei,

Taiwan.

Source: Photograph by Ronald G. Knapp 1993.

'MtKl

* Fig. 5.6a-b. "Yin at one's back and embraced by yang, with ridges to the back and facing water" is a shorthand expression for optimal sites at different scales. a. Optimal sites for dwellings. Bottom left: Optimal site for a village.

* « t * ¡4 *

/ x

b. An ideal building site with its constituent parts: (1) Kunlun

-

(2) grandparent mountain; (3) parent mountain; (4) master

« '< >1

-A H

Mountain; mountain;

(5) Baihu, or White Tiger Mountain; (6) Qinglong, or Green Dragon

I 5.6a

Source: Shang 1992, 27.

Mountain; (7) settlement site; (8) watercourse; (9) shuikou, or water 5.6b

inlet; (10) Anshan; (11) chaoshan; (12) luocheng. Source: Fan 1992,40.

Fig. 5.7. Schematic drawing of a Chinese village incorporates various fengshui terrain elements. Source: Unknown.

define nine directions. The most prominent and immediate morphological markers associated with a building site are those on the left/east and right/west—that is, qinglong and baihu. Correlated withyang andyin, qinglong and baihu are not static but instead are vital, interacting, and intertwining, and they concentrate qi within a protected node. Naming landmarks in terms of the green dragon, vermilion phoenix, white tiger, and black tortoise creates a set of informal reference positions that have clear spatial implications. In describing bridges, gates, streets, pagodas, and temples, as well as ridges, watercourses, ponds, and groves, these terms are distinctive markers in the mental maps of many Chinese today. Within such landscape configurations, the fengshui practitioner attempts to discover xue, a term meaning "lair," "cave," or "hole" and used also to describe critical acupuncture points. Usually shown on a fengshui schematic diagram as a small circle, the xue node is where qi concentrates. Buildings that are situated at a xue must be placed so as not to obstruct the movement of qi, since vital qi flows naturally from above and below. Yet a xue is more than a mere spot where qi concentrates; it is a converging point in an articulated horizontal, somewhat sloping, spatial composition that is wrapped by a serpentine chain of hills or mountains, embraced within the protective armchair-like set of lesser topographical features. At a different scale, this same armchair-like form is apparent in the shape of grave sites throughout southern China (Figures 5.8-5.9). Siting and Situating a Dwelling

107

Fig. 5.9. With a number of ridges to

Sinuous mountains leading to a xue are metaphorically described as a "dragon,"

the back and a stream across the

or long, whose body is an undulating yet interconnected organism that may be

front, it is said that a village leans

extensive and complex or rather simple. As characterized in a fengshui manual:

against the "dragon hills." "Hills bring sons, water brings

prosperity"

is how villagers across the suspicious character of a site. Shang Xiaoqi village, Jiangwan township,

Wuyuan

county, Jiangxi. Source: Gong 2001,3.

"Mountain and water are male and f e m a l e . . . . If the dragon curls left, the water has to curl right; if the dragon curls right, the water has to curl left; the two embrace each other, and only then does the site coalesce" (Ye 1696, ce 1.12b; quoted in March 1968, 258). In level areas without obvious ridgelike terrain features, a secluded location with only gentle breezes and slowly moving water must be identified in order to assure that qi is not dispersed. With a focus on affinities as well as oppositions, balanced and rather symmetrical sites are valued: "On a rock hill you must take an earthly site; on an earth hill you must take a rocky site. Where it is confined, take an open place; where it is open, take a confined space. On a prominence, take the flat; where it is flat, take the prominent. Where strong comes, take weak; where weak comes, take strong. Where there are many hills, emphasize water; where there is much water, emphasize hills" (Shanghai xingxiang 1957,63; quoted in March 1968,258). Just as with ridges, hills, and mountains, meandering streams contributed to the spatial composition of a favorable site, and accumulated or ponded water was judged important. Indeed, an effort had to be made to bring the two categories into balance inasmuch as mountains wereyin and watercourses yang. Phrases relating to

108

Ronald G. Knapp

water are reminiscent of the language invoked in the design of Chinese gardens, as sketched in the preceding chapter by Joseph C. Wang. Following the principles of fengshui, an individual dwelling, as well as an assemblage of dwellings in a village, often faces south or southeast throughout China, but proper siting goes well beyond mere compass readings. A good fengshui site is well drained, well watered, and reasonably sheltered from cold winds and intrusive heat. Throughout many areas of southern China, fengshui principles have helped limit building on cultivable land, led to construction on sites at which flooding and erosion are minimized, and restrained reckless decision making. House-Building

Rituals

Once a site was chosen for a dwelling, attention then turned to the erection of the structure. Like other construction in traditional China, building a house was an endeavor that went beyond the mere amassing of raw materials and their assembly by carpenters and masons. Just as with the initial selection of the home site, timing and ritual received careful attention throughout the construction process, continuing even later for details in and about the dwelling. Furthermore, because it was generally believed that there were intrinsic "antagonisms" among those involved in a building project—the household itself, the fengshui master, the tradesmen such as masons and carpenters—each addressed his suspicions in different ways. In some cases, written materials in almanacs available in the market or secret manuals passed down from generation to generation could be consulted. More generally, however, awareness came from orally conveyed lore or notions considered common knowledge in a community that—even if comprehended differently—essentially corroborated the more formalized ideas held in books. A review of written records reveals that attention was paid to the dates and hours that trees could be felled, a building lot leveled, ground broken, and a stone foundation set. Careful thought was given to how the carpenter's trestle was placed, as well as to how wood was shaped within it. Special ritual attended several critical junctures in house building, each of which was judged especially consequential and demanding of attention as the dwelling took shape: raising the columns and beams; hoisting the ridgepole; determining the slope of the roof; laying the surrounding brick or tamped-earth wall; tiling the roof; paving the floors; plastering the walls; installing the door; building a kitchen stove; sweeping the floors; digging the well; creating a cowshed, stable, pigsty, or privy; and moving in. While nineteenth- and

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

109

early-twentieth-century visitors to China observed and wrote of practices such as these and many practices seemed to have withered away over the past century, recent travelers—especially in remote areas in China's countryside, but also in its towns and thriving coastal areas—continue to encounter evidence of house-building rituals even as the twenty-first century begins. For many Chinese, the building of a house was viewed as a lengthy project that took time to complete, a condition as true in the past as it is today. Rarely were— indeed, are—resources sufficient to construct a new house all at once; thus, building materials—wood, brick, roof tiles, stone—had to be acquired and stockpiled as money became available. Since household members, their kin, and even neighbors cooperated to make some of the building parts themselves, spare time during slack agricultural seasons provided opportunities to do the work. In some cases, timber was felled in nearby woods, then piled safely for later use, but large beams and the long ridgepole might have to be obtained from some distance away, with construction delayed until their arrival.2 Where timber was especially scarce, such as in northern China, wood was scavenged from demolished buildings and made available in local markets, a practice that is still seen today (but perhaps less so than in the past). Groundbreaking and Leveling. In many parts of central and southern China, groundbreaking [dongtu] and leveling the foundation [pingji] demanded caution since these actions had the potential of upsetting natural forces. Tutelary deities such as the Earth God Tudi Gong were offered incense and fruit with rituals accompanied by firecrackers. Chicken blood is often mentioned as being sprinkled on a new building site as a means of expelling malevolent forces stirred up by the breaking of the ground. Mysterious charms written on peachwood slips, as in Figure 5.10, are still seen in Zhejiang province, where they appeal to the guardians of each of the directions affected by the groundbreaking. Plumb lines and water levels continue to be used in order to level a foundation before rammers are employed to pound the earth until it is sufficiently firm to support columns and walls. Raising the Ridgepole: Shangliang. While critical ritual steps in "assembling" a house include setting the foundation stones, erecting the columns, orienting the main doorframe, and shaping wooden building parts such as interior columns and beams, it was the hoisting of the ridgepole that normally received most attention. The ridgepole was not only likely to be the most costly building component, but its strength was also critical in supporting the weight of a massive roof, whether the

110

Ronald G. Knapp

latter was made of clay tile or thatch. The special significance of raising the ridgepole was acknowledged by an array of festivities on an auspicious date; these included not only programmed ritual, but also a bounteous meal shared with all of the craftsmen. For larger dwellings with multiple parallel buildings and thus multiple ridgepoles, attention was paid to identifying the "favorable" ridgepoles, which should be higher than others, and thus an ongoing series of different rituals was necessary. Shangliang rituals and festivities have been recorded all over China, differing only in minor details, with only a small number that are as complex as those stipulated in the Lu Banjing

(Knapp 1999b, 41-51), the now classical carpenters' manual

written by Lu Ban, the ingenious master craftsman of the fifth century B.C. and the Fig. 5.10. Written on peachwood slips, these calligraphic charms appeal to the guardians of each of the five directions affected by a groundbreaking. Ruian county, Zhejiang.

Source: Photograph by

Ronald G. Knapp 1988.

patron of carpenters and masons. To the east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, the raising of modern roof trusses and their securing with paired ridgepoles and associated purlins is still a community event with simplified ritual elements when compared to the more elaborate situation described above. As seen in Figure 5.11a, a taiji symbol and characters stating the time and date, as well as an auspicious phrase, are written directly on the interior underside of the rounded ridgepole so that they can be read from below once the pole is set in place. A relatively simple "solemn and reverential" ceremony accompanies the hoisting and setting of the main ridgepole above the inferior ones. The table of offerings, placed within the walls and beneath the roof trusses, contains only several carpenters' tools, incense, and two candles and is set before the ridgepole itself, which has a red cloth draping over each of its ends. After tribute is made to Lu Ban, accompanied by the sound of firecrackers, the ridgepole is hoisted atop the wooden framework (Figure 5.11b). As so often is the case throughout China today, younger villagers appear to have little understanding of the specific meaning of various amulets associated with buildings, seeing them instead only as "generalized emblem[s] of good luck" (Azevedo 1991, 78). In rural Liaoning province, in an echo of more traditional rituals, each of the principal building actions preceding the raising of the ridgepole is accompanied by the chanting of rhymed, "luck-bringing" verses, or da xi ge, which praise the quality of the raw materials and the skill of the carpenters and summon good fortune (Jiang 1994). On the chosen day, the rough beam that will become the ridgepole is placed on a trestle and shaped according to specific measurements. Other rituals center on a square table set in the courtyard or in the middle of the dwelling, upon which a container is filled with "the five grains" (rice, wheat, beans, and two kinds of millet, which together are a propitious symbol for a good harvest) and three sticks of incense; nearby are steamed buns, food and wine, a wine pot, plates, and chopsticks,

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

111

Fig. 5.11a-b.

a. Villagers examine the ridgepole just before a raising ceremony begins, viewing the red Bagua with its taiji symbol. Lantian

as well as a carpenter's square and an ink-line reel. Once the incense is lit, a set of rhymed verses is chanted to praise Lu Ban. The middle section of the ridgepole is ornamented with a combined taiji and Bagua, as antispectral charms, sometimes directly drawn on the pole but other times printed or drawn on a sheet of paper that

county, Shaanxi. Source: Original

is attached to the beam. A common pair of couplets can be observed hanging from

photograph used with the permission

the ridgepoles of new dwellings in many areas of China: "Jiang Taigong is here"

of Azevedo 1990.

[Jiang Taigongzai

b. To the sound of firecrackers and draped with auspicious red hangings, the ridgepole is hoisted. Lantian county, Shaanxi. Source:

ci] and "All the spirits abdicate in his favor" [Zhushen

tuiwei].

(The former invokes the power of an eleventh-century B.C. martial minister and general.) Old copper octagonal coins, called bagua qian, are still sometimes nailed to the ridgepole as protective amulets and accompanied by chanting:

Original photograph used with the

First nail is for gold, the second for silver

permission of Azevedo 1990.

Third for the God of Wealth not leaving the gate Fourth for dependability in work Fifth for five sons passing the imperial examinations Sixth for matters to go smoothly Seventh for the seven stars to shine brightly and the family to have a treasure bowl even after arranged marriages for sons and daughters; As I place the Bagua nail, high position and great wealth for ten thousand springs.

112

Ronald G. Knapp

According to field observations in Liaoning, wine is then poured from a wine pot from one end of the ridgepole to the other as a set of rhymes calls for a noble position for the new residents. Once this is concluded, the owner shouts, "The auspicious time has come [Ji chen dao]\" while the carpenter follows with, "Raise the ridgepole [Shang liang]\" The ridgepole is then slowly hoisted with ropes, to the accompanying sounds of exploding firecrackers, until the massive timber is seated in place, where the carpenter taps it into a secure position. Strips of auspicious red cloth are then attached to the ridgepole, and money wrapped in red paper is handed over to the craftsmen. Near the ritual climax, the master carpenter then mounts the ridgepole and "runs along the beam" [pao liang], chanting as he checks that it is firmly seated: The phoenix does not light where there are no treasures. Today it perches at the end of the ridgepole. With one swing of my axe, the house will be solid forever. Ten thousand years solid, ten thousand years prosperous, riches, and position, a number one family. To complete the ritual, the master carpenter casts out the five grains, a handful at a time, hurling each handful toward the five directions as he alludes to each of the five elements, using a metered chant of subjugation that will "vanquish the demons" [da sha]. After verbally and symbolically neutralizing the demons, the master carpenter casts coins and steamed bread from atop the ridgepole toward each of the five directions. As he does so, he chants that riches of all types—gold and silver, a full treasure house, horses and mules—will arrive, in addition to a long life to the age of ninety-nine for the household head. In many areas of coastal southern China even today, a bamboo lantern, bamboo sieve, grains of rice in small sacks, bundles of red chopsticks, or trousers are suspended from the ridgepole or from the eaves overhang of a dwelling in order to invoke hopes for fertility and prosperity. Some of the homophonous associations used are evident only in the local dialects of southeastern China and are not obvious in standard Chinese. As seen in Figure 5.12, for example, a hanging lantern invokes a desire for sons and grandsons, and this is underscored with multiple auspicious phrases. Lanterns traditionally were hung above a wedding bed for the same reason so that "adding a lantern" had the meaning "adding a son." A similar play on words exists with small silver nails, or yinding, which were pounded into the ridgepoles in the Ningbo area of eastern Zhejiang. The square openings in a red

Siting and Situating a Dwelling

113

Fig. 5.12. An auspicious red cloth is

bamboo sieve, as seen in Figure 5.13, are said to represent the "mouths," or kou, in

wrapped around the red ridgepole.

a large family, while the attached chopsticks, pronounced kuaizi, have a punning

Two of the four character phrases

relationship with "sons coming quickly" [kuai zi]. Similarly, the word for men's

are readable: "A hundred sons, a thousand grandsons" and "Good luck with the raising of the ridge-

trousers [kuzi] in some southern dialects sounds close to that of the auspicious Chinese character fu, meaning "riches." One late-twentieth-century observer noted:

pole" [Shangliang daji]. Hung

"Sometimes the trousers are merely passed around the beam during the ceremony,

nearby is a bamboo frame of a

and I have once seen this happen with the trousers incongruously wrapped around

threadbare paper lantern [ding

a live chicken" (Baker 1979, 90).

in Cantonese], the word for which is homophonous in Cantonese with the word for sons. Sheung Wo

According to news reports and field observations, there is an escalating popularity today of shangliang rituals, with their "luck-bringing songs," as the building

Hang, New Territories, Hong Kong.

of houses increases. In Liaoning, it has been noted that young carpenters apprentice

Source: Photograph by Ronald G.

themselves to ritual masters in order to learn the ceremonies that homeowners are

Knapp 1990.

demanding. Annual almanacs, which can still be bought in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and some areas of coastal China, specify the auspicious dates for the raising of a

Fig. 5.13. Wishes for sons are suggested by this painted bamboo sieve or hongshi, hung under the eaves,

ridgepole, as they do for other building tasks such as breaking ground and digging a well, as well as installing a doorframe, stove, or bed (Figure 5.14).

with its multiplicity of square openings that are said to represent the

Auspicious Measurements. Traditional carpenters paid special attention to fixing

"mouths," or kou, in a large family.

favorable measurements and avoiding unfavorable ones for the length, width, and

The sentiment is underscored by

height of a dwelling and the slope of the roof. Nonstructural carpentry for specific

the attached chopsticks /kuaizi in

building parts, such as doors, windows, and interior partition walls, also was carried

Chinese], a punning

relationship

with "sons coming quickly" [kuai zi]. Yandangshan, Zhejiang. Source: Photograph by Ronald G. Knapp 1990.

out with the same attention to appropriate measurements. Carpenters set their measurements using long as well as short rulers and a carpenter's square made of metal or wood, all of which varied in length from one area of China to another. Special rulers, called menguang chi and Lu Ban chi, were used in Taiwan and coastal

114

Ronald G. Knapp

Fig. 5.14. Two pages from a Hong Kong almanac that indicate favorable

and unfavorable

for a myriad of activities,

the times including

not only for cutting one's hair, but also for digging a foundation,

sink-

ing a well, and raising a ridgepole.

Source: Collection of Ronald G. Knapp.

ai t ' 1 M BJJ :

til M SUI * * / r e '•li Ì4S S « . it i « ¡ S i » 0 IBiÈ I «Jft* • »« f fsf? •una f- • KT •turi fK'BS f-» 5 fMM ' Sii im 141 I'I L 338-339-

a hobby. For many less-well-off urban families, embroideries produced both for domestic and for Western markets became an important source of income starting in the eighteenth century (Mann 1997).

The Inner Quarters

267

The inner quarters were a place for leisure and family life as well as working and sleeping. In the inner quarters of a merchant family, as described in Shinzoku kibun, the married ladies' rooms were on the ground floor of the building, and the upper floor contained the daughters' bedrooms. It was reached by a staircase and had small windows covered with blinds to protect the young ladies from intruding glances. The floor was of polished boards, and the entrance was a double door. There were mats and rugs on the floor, with tables, chairs, and stools. The panels of the door stood open, but a woven blind hung inside. At the front of the top story was built the lutai, or "dew platform," a large balcony supported on pillars, with balustrades of wood or bamboo on three sides and an awning overhead to keep off the sun. With pots of orchids arrayed against the balustrade, the dew platform was a fragrant and breezy refuge from the summer heat (Figure 11.17). It served as a family sitting room, a place where women would work at their embroidery and other tasks and where the men of the family joined them to chat over breakfast and to relax over a pipe in the evenings (Shinzoku kibun, 122). Family parties for viewing the moon in the eighth month were held on the dew terrace. So too was the girls' ceremony of the Double Seventh, the night when the constellations figuring the legendary lovers, the Herd Boy and the Weaving Girl, met in the sky and when offerings of fruit and cakes were made as young girls prayed to be given skills

Fig. 11.17. The dew platform.

There

is a Buddhist

callig-

altar flanked

by

raphy scrolls inside on the left and a small table holding ing implements

books and

against

wall; in the room beyond

on the left

is a bed with a rush mat, for warm summer

writ-

the back

weather.

suitable Source:

Shinzoku kibun 1799,132-133.

268

Francesca Bray

with the needle. In the homes of poor families without a dew platform the offerings had to be made at ground level, in the courtyard (Shinzoku kibun, 40-43). The Shinzoku kibun illustration of the dew platform shows a glimpse of a Buddhist altar. In late imperial China, Buddhist piety was particularly associated with women and with the lower classes. Since Song times at least, women had been particularly attracted by the boddhisattva Guanyin, a merciful goddess to whom women who were pregnant or childless turned for protection and help. Although popular Buddhist doctrines held that women were intrinsically polluted and therefore barred from immediate salvation, the prospect of reincarnation and eventual admission to paradise and the possibility of improving one's spiritual status through good works and piety made Buddhism an attractive escape for women from the shackles of the Confucian order. In well-off households the inner quarters provided each married woman with a room of her own, where she kept her private belongings. Woodblock illustrations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century novels and the pictures commissioned for the Shinzoku kibun at the end of the eighteenth century show the inner quarters of homes as elegant retreats with every creature comfort. A lady's bedroom would contain an elaborate alcove bed, a dressing table, tables and chairs, and a washstand with bowl and towels, most of which she would have brought with her as part of her dowry. She was well provided with toilet articles, mirrors, and sewing boxes. Musical instruments might be hung on the wall, and in a separate alcove, which could be locked, were piled her clothes chests, jewelry boxes, and household goods (Figure 11.18). The elaborate canopy bed, carved or lacquered and hung with

The Inner Quarters

Fig. 11.19. Ming dynasty bed. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Source:

draperies, symbolized the woman's status as a wife and mother, and in illustrations

Used with the permission of The

ing, and painting (Figure 11.20).

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Purchase: Nelson Trust 64-4/4).

it is always shown as the most prominent feature of a lady's quarters (Figure 11.19). A table in front of the bed served as a dressing table or as a desk for reading, writSons inherited equal shares of the patrilineal property, of which land was usually the most valuable component. But patrimony was communal property, held in trust for future members of the lineage. At no stage in their lives could Chinese men be

Fig. 11.20. A young lady's chamber with a spotted bamboo bed on which a book lies open; sewing implements and boxes that might contain either makeup or writing implements are lying on the table by the bed. From the 1602 edition of Jingchai ji [Tales of the thorn hairpin], collected by the Yuan author

said to own it outright. By late imperial times women did not inherit family prop-

Ke Danqiu.

or acquired it by their own hard work, weaving fine cloth for their own use or selling

Source: Fu 1981,132-133.

erty, but their families provided them with a dowry when they wed. The ownership of this incoming property was in constant dispute. The strict Confucians claimed that it became part of the joint family property of the groom's lineage; when she came to her new home, the bride should give it over to her parents-in-law, or at least ask their approval for any use she made of it. If Confucian moralists made so strong a point of this, it is because a contending school of thought saw dowries as women's private property, to use as they would—not least because they had often produced it for cash to buy other necessaries. Cases are recorded where women used their dowry wealth to start a business or buy land on their own account, lend money to their husbands, or make gifts to a temple (Bray 1997,139,188).

270

Francesca

Bray

A poor woman's dowry might consist at best of some pots and pans, quilts, and a few clothes. A rich woman in late imperial times would take to her new home a bed carved in precious wood, a chest of clothes for each season, jewelry, fine textiles, and cash, as well as household goods. All these were kept in the woman's own room. In the houses described in Shinzoku kibun the wives kept their belongings in a locked alcove, and even the maids had a key for their rooms, but the men had nothing to lock up. Paradoxically the patriarchal order sought to control women by confining them, but in the process it created private spaces that served as sites of resistance to its control. The relation between female virtue and seclusion was construed in two different ways in late imperial thought, with very different implications for the status of women. Either women were capable of moral choices and the pursuit of virtue, or they were innately immoral and lacking in self-control so that female "virtue" was in fact an absence of vice imposed by male control and strict spatial segregation. The first position was consonant with the view that male and female spheres had equal dignity and worth and was based on the premise that women, just like men, were naturally capable of moral and intellectual cultivation. The wife of a busy official would often be expected to run not only the household, but also the family property. The husband of Miss Li (1104-1177) was able to concentrate entirely on his responsibilities in government, "never having asked about family supplies." Miss Li took on the management of their property as her responsibility, buying fertile fields and building a house by a stream. Once a peasant came into the courtyard carrying a sack of rice on his back, to the amazement of Miss Li's husband, who had no idea who he was or what he carried. She just laughed and said, "That is our rent" (Ebrey 1993,191). Wives commonly took on these managerial tasks, which brought them into contact with stewards, builders, tenants, and other men not of their family, right through the late imperial period (Ko 1994; McDermott 1990). By the sixteenth century it was also becoming common for scholars to exalt the role of mothers as educators and to advocate more and better education for women (Ko 1994). A literate woman could teach her sons the basics of reading and morality by taking them through the simpler classics. When boys reached the age of seven or eight, they would go on to a tutor or to school, but many distinguished men continued to consult their mothers as they progressed with their studies and careers (Hsiung 1994). In some circles women were considered no less capable of intellectual or literary achievement than men (Figure 11.21), and the fact that they were debarred from public affairs was thought to confer on them a heightened purity

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271

Fig. 11.21. A young lady's room, here a garden studio such as a man of literary tastes might have, except for the prominence of the bed and its draperies. The young woman is shown sitting at her writing desk in front of the bed. From a collection of magical tales, Guang han xiang [The cold fragrance diffused], published in the Kangxi period (1662-1/22).

Source: Fu 1981, 920.

of understanding and refinement of judgment in moral matters. Providing a formal education for daughters gradually spread from a few refined families to a more general practice of the urban well-to-do, and the perils of hiring a tutor for one's daughters became a standard element in the plots of plays and novels. From this perspective, then, women were worthy partners of men, and a woman's virtue was not the product of her seclusion but stemmed from her moral character. But another view, which was probably more widespread in late imperial China, held that moral education and decorous behavior within the confines of the inner quarters offered no safeguard against the perils of the outer world. A woman found in the wrong place was given no credit for purity of intention. This was certainly the perspective embodied in the law. Qing legal records include cases where a woman of a country family was seen in the company of a man in some place such as the garden of the house; the conclusion automatically drawn was that she was involved in an illicit sexual relationship (Sommer 2001). That women were morally inferior and untrustworthy and that they must be kept locked up if the honor of the family was to be preserved was certainly the view most frequently expressed in the patriarchal genre known as "household instructions," or jiaxun, a genre extremely popular among the petty gentry of the late imperial period (Furth 1990). Strict patriarchs were especially nervous of the people to whom they referred contemptuously as liu po, "the six kinds of old crone": matchmakers, Buddhist and

272

Francesca

Bray

Daoist nuns, women herbalists, fortune-tellers, and midwives. Such women regularly entered the inner quarters of strange houses for professional purposes. Except for the matchmakers, without whose help no marriage could be arranged (and whose role was sanctioned in orthodox liturgies), orthodox males viewed all of these women as a threat to the morality of their wives and daughters; they also feared that they would swindle money out of them for nefarious purposes. These women peddled wares and knowledge of which such men had no need or of which they actively disapproved: fertility drugs and abortifacients, religious comfort and promises of salvation, charms, and fortune-telling. In fact it seems probable that many of the herbal remedies and other services for which respectable women paid were much less seditious than the men liked to think. Probably one of the greatest attractions of these women's visits for the ladies was that they brought in news from the world beyond the walls of the inner quarters. Although it was easier for well-off families to follow the stricter rules of gendered segregation, the majority of ordinary women in late imperial China shared the commitment of ladies to demure behavior. Even in the Song dynasty poor women seem to have done their best to dress modestly and keep out of men's view whenever possible (Ebrey 1993). Poor families were just as jealous of their women's respectability as gentry, but apart from the seasonal farm tasks mentioned above, their women routinely left the home to buy fresh food at the market, to get water from the well, or to do washing at the river. These were the places where poor women could chat to other women and exchange the gossip that Chinese men condemned so strongly—perhaps because, as Margery Wolf (1968) argues, it often operated as a powerful form of social control over people abusing their authority, whether it was a man who beat his wife or a woman who mistreated her daughterin-law. Some outings were permissible for women of all classes. Many women looked forward to a visit to the operas put on in villages and cities all over China to celebrate festivals or lineage commemorations. Some operas, usually those chosen by elders for lineage celebrations, told morally exalted tales of successful sons and virtuous daughters-in-law; others had plots of romantic love or featured young women who won fame as warriors or who triumphed (albeit disguised as men) in the imperial examinations (Tanaka 1985). Women of all classes also liked to visit temples and to go on pilgrimages, if their husbands would give them permission. Childless women offered incense to the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, or to the many other deities of the late imperial period associated with fertility. Old women, as

The Inner Quarters

273

Fig. 11.22. Student

Zhang falls

love with Oriole at the for Eternal

Salvation.

Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-ca.

in

Monastery

Attributed 1552).

to

Illus-

tration to X i x i a n g ji [The story of the western collection.

wing],

a Yuan

dynasty

Source: Courtesy East

Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley.

death approached, wanted to pray for salvation or reincarnation in a better life. Elite men, even when they studied Buddhism and visited temples, affected to be free of vulgar religiosity and the emotionality that went with it. They regarded women's participation in such outings with deep suspicion: in operas as in novels, Buddhist and Daoist temples were depicted as promiscuous places where love affairs were likely to occur (Figure 11.22) (Leung 1983). And when women grouped together for a pilgrimage, even if no worse mischief occurred, they were sure to lose all sense of decorum and start behaving like spendthrift hoydens, casting dignity to the wind and literally kicking up their heels in unaccustomed physical freedom. A typical male view of these pious expeditions is conveyed in the scene depicted by a seven-

274

Francesca Bray

teenth-century novelist where "like a pack of wolves and dogs, the whole herd of women stampeded their donkeys, overtaking one another turn by turn" (Dudbridge 1992,52). Elite women probably had the fewest opportunities to venture beyond their own walls. Dorothy Ko (1994) discusses various forays outside the walls of the house that some women might make: scenic outings, boating and picnics, drinking and poetry parties with women relatives and friends, or long journeys accompanying a husband to official duties in a new part of the country. But only a privileged few had this degree of freedom, and their more secluded friends often envied their exposure to broad horizons and dramatic nature. The only travels most ladies experienced were proxy journeys, made by reading, looking at paintings, or sending letters to other women equally confined. What effect did female seclusion have on women's ideas about themselves? In the case of gentry women, Dorothy Ko argues that seclusion provided freedom and dignity: In Ming-Qing households, the innermost realm of the private sphere was the prerogative of women. The women's quarters, tucked away in inconspicuous corners of the gentry housing compound, were off limits even to adult men in the family. In facilitating the development of her self-image and identity as woman, this cloistering had a positive effect on women's culture. Mothers and housewives, who took pride in their calling to be the guardian of familial morality, welcomed the identification of women with domesticity. Hence women did not feel the need to challenge the age-old ideology prescribing the functional separations between the sexes. (1992,14) Ko argues that gentry women in this period were "oblivious" to the hierarchical dimension of this doctrine of separate spheres. In my opinion, it is more likely that they were conscious of it but accepted it as a natural fact. The evidence from the merchants who contributed accounts to Shinzoku kibun tends to confirm Dorothy Ko's revisionist interpretation, except that they portray an agreeable intimacy between men and women. They describe a train of life in which they pass perhaps the most relaxed and agreeable hours of the day in the inner quarters. After the household head had washed and combed his hair in the mornings, we are told, he would repair to the women's quarters to drink tea and smoke a pipe, and then the whole family would sit down to breakfast together (Shinzoku kibun, 155). The merchants describe the lives of their wives as cloistered

The Inner Quarters

275

but do not mention moral inferiority or the perils of cuckoldry. Poor women's lives they portray as necessarily less confined. Though many neo-Confucians railed against the moral perils of embroidery, the merchants speak of it as a charming and companionable occupation. Though they do say that of course girls cannot leave the house to go to school, they do not condemn educating daughters at home. The sequestered quarters of the women emerge in these descriptions as the most pleasant and relaxed part of the house, the place for family parties and cheerful evenings, cool in summer and well warmed with braziers in winter. The moralists, however, commonly represented women as emotional, willful, and likely to quarrel among themselves. Was this true, and if so, was it a natural outcome of seclusion? Were women the worst enemies of other women, or did they see each other as friends and allies, as Ko's work suggests? Here I think it is essential to distinguish between women who were related by birth and those who were thrown together by marriage—an experience of alienation to which Chinese men were never exposed. The moralistic literature that depicts women as quarrelsome and selfish focuses on the tensions among women related by marriage, and they were undoubtedly considerable. Incoming brides had no preexisting ties to their new family, and relations between insiders and outsiders were often very difficult. In gentry households a new bride was unlikely to receive physical ill treatment, but she would still find herself outside her own home for the first time, as a very junior member of the hierarchy. Many families struggled to provide their daughters with good dowries so that their new family would treat them with respect and kindness. Sometimes poor families would drown newborn girls because they knew they would not be able to afford a decent dowry. Local magistrates tried to ban this practice, which they regarded with horror; sometimes they even attempted to raise money to provide small dowries for poor families (T'ien 1988, 26). Even with a dowry, in poor households a new bride was likely to be treated as an unpaid servant and set to do all the unpleasant chores. Peasant mothers taught their daughters lengthy songs of despair that were part of the wedding ceremony: torn from her mother, aunts, and sisters, as she set off for her new home, the young woman felt as if she had died and was making the descent into hell (Johnson 1988). Relationships among women brought together by marriage were fraught with structural difficulties, and this was undoubtedly exacerbated by the fact that seclusion threw these women into each other's company with few opportunities for avoidance or escape. In many poor families the relationship between mother- and

276

Francesca Bray

Fig. 11.23. The childbirth

chamber.

daughter-in-law, at least before the birth of a son, was that between tyrant and

The new mother is sitting on her

slave, and it was common for unmarried sisters to despise and exploit their broth-

bed, propped up by piles of quilts

ers' new wives. Another source of friction was the rivalry between a wife and her

to prevent sudden movement and hemorrhaging. A maid or perhaps the wet nurse is holding the baby. Source: Shinzoku kibun 1799,317. Fig. 11.24. A couple present their newborn son to the matriarch while

husband's concubines and any of the maids he might choose to favor with his sexual attentions. It was not unknown for a wife to beat a concubine or maid to death; since she was mistress in her own domain of the inner quarters, her husband was often unable to intervene effectively (Ebrey 1993,167-168). Once a woman bore a son (Figure 11.23), she became a full ritual member of her marital family: she was

the younger brother and his wife

now the mother of a member of the patriline, a future ancestor entitled to worship

look on. From a Wanli edition of

by her male descendants when she died. So a new bride's hopes lay in the future—

the anonymous Ming fiction collec-

in becoming a respected wife and mother and eventually a matriarch, mistress of

tion Qingpao ji [Tales of the dark

her own household living in the best quarters, with daughters-in-law of her own

robe]. Source: Zhou 1993,113.

under her control and grandsons to dandle on her knee (Figure 11.24). Yet there was another side to relations among women; the attachments between female relatives—far less prominent in moralist writings, jokes, or proverbs—were

pleasant and loving. Ko (1994) proposes that the inner quarters were a place where women forged strong bonds of affection and companionship—and it turns out that the women concerned were usually kinswomen, mother and daughter, sisters, cousins, or other blood relatives. In the case of the women writers from seventeenth-century Jiangnan that Ko has studied, poems between mother and daughter express not just tenderness but a bond of intellectual and aesthetic sensibilities. While she acknowledges that few women of the period were as well educated as her subjects, Ko believes it is likely that the mother-daughter bond shaped social experience, at least in the gentry families of late imperial China, just as much as the father-son bond, to which Confucian male scholars gave pride of place, or even the mother-son bond (the "uterine family") that Margery Wolf (1972) saw as providing the strongest emotions in the lives of Taiwanese peasant women and that Hsiung Ping-chen (1994) has argued formed the emotional and moral focus of many elite men's lives in late imperial times. Among women of lower social status, too, evidence for a female society of solidarity is emerging. In her ethnographic study of social practices in Shandong, Ellen Judd (1989) documents a long tradition of continuous visits between a mother and her married daughters; in some cases newly married women even returned home to have their first child. The astonishing collection of letters in "women's script" [nil shu] recently brought to light in southwestern Hunan reveals the intensity of affection that could develop among young women of relatively humble families who became close friends, vowing eternal friendship, staying in each other's houses, learning embroidery patterns together, and singing the same songs until they were torn apart by marriage and could communicate only by the occasional but heartfelt letter, written in the form of a long poem (Silber 1994). The studies of girls' houses and marriage avoidance or delayed marriage in nineteenth- and early twentiethcentury Guangdong also show that sharing a space created enduring bonds among women (Stockard 1989; Topley 1978). The bonds between mother and daughter, aunt and niece, sisters, or girl cousins growing up under the same roof were bonds of tenderness and devotion made bittersweet by the threat of marriage. The emotional bond between sister and brother was very strong too, and brothers were often treated as the guardians of their sisters' interests after marriage. Married women clung to such friendships as best they could. Letters were one way to cross the forbidden spaces between their husband's house and their natal home, to invite their dear ones into their own secluded quarters and cultivate the precious friendship. A few women were accomplished literary

278

Francesca Bray

writers, and the poems and letters they exchanged have been preserved; they were able to maintain friendships with other female writers and acquaintances, as well as with their own relatives. Ordinary women's scope was more limited, and exchanges of gifts, especially of embroidered objects such as slippers, handkerchiefs, or fans, were often important in cementing such bonds. Very few women received formal schooling, and the "women's script" of Hunan was an anomaly. Even so, it is possible that letters played a greater role in women's lives than is usually supposed, permitting them to exchange news with their natal family and friends. Guides to letter writing had been in popular demand since early times, separately published or included in household encyclopedias. Such books "included many letter forms for use between relatives on both the male and female side and across three generations, between friends and between business associates.... The female side is more prominent in these books than might be expected" (Hayes 1985, 86). "Basically a woman has no business writing," concludes the 1560 edition of a popular encyclopedia—after a long section describing exactly what forms of address a woman should use when writing to her natal relatives, friends, and other correspondents (Jujia biyong, 1: 83-84). In conclusion, men and women in China had very different ties to domestic space and correspondingly different experiences of identity and personal ties. A man was born, grew up, and died within the same walls and with the same male kin around him. He never had to leave his parents or his home; he knew to which lineage and which landscape he belonged from the time he began to understand the world. His house was his home for life, and yet he could walk outside the family compound whenever he pleased. He lived in a kind of commune of shared patrimonial goods, in which his first loyalty was supposedly to the group. A girl grew up on borrowed time. When she married, she had to leave the house of her birth, her mother, and her sisters, whom she loved and depended on, to move into an unknown house and a new group of women, many of whom might regard her with hostility. She would have to be self-reliant until she built up alliances and, as a mother, became an acknowledged member of her new family. Few wives questioned the system, because as time passed, they gained power and authority. Such resistance to neo-Confucian patriarchy as there was seems to have hinged on privacy and property. A married woman was virtually a prisoner within her husband's compound, and yet within this space she had freedoms that her husband did not. She had a room of her own where she could retreat with her children and where she kept her dowry in locked trunks under her own control.

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279

12

Between House and Home The Family in South China

Chinese texts are adamant that the ideals of a successful family can be expressed in phrases such as "coresidence and common property" [tongju gongcai] and "five generations under one r o o f " [wushi tongtang]. They cite examples of families that indeed survived for five generations undivided, living under the same roof and holding in common, so to speak, the family properties. By all reports, instances of such families were extremely rare. The rarity of successful families living together within an extensive dwelling, however, does not nullify the prevalence of the ideal. Therein is posed the problem for the social historian: in what sense would clusters of houses occupied by people of a common surname claiming a common ancestor constitute a "family"? A starting point for an answer could be the succinct discussion by Shiga Shuzo (1978,109-150) on the development of Chinese family law. He downplays living together in the same house as an objective and stresses the importance not of coownership of all properties, but of operating through common budgets. He argues that inheritance is predicated upon the continuation of the ancestor's person, represented in ritual terms in sacrifice to the deceased by his offspring. While Shiga's reinterpretation of the family ideal provides the insight needed for any venture into Chinese family history, the insight is helpful only if there is documentation concerning coresidence and budget sharing. It is unfortunate that we know next to nothing regarding the historical context of how space was used in Chinese houses over time or about budget sharing, especially in terms of the relationship of the very few family accounts still extant to the family structures of the account holders. A focus on residence and budgets is obviously so fundamental to family life that it is certain that changes in house style and budget keeping have implications on families. Such changes can be documented in southern China's Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province. For example, the use of bricks for building houses was introduced into the area from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, along with the spread of Chinese writing, official practices, schools, and the literati ideal. As practices such as these spread, the local population in time generally abandoned living in boats or bamboo sheds on stilts for houses made of bricks, sometimes on

281

mm. x Fig. 12.1. "Simplified

Plan of the

Big House" [Da wu jianming tu]. Source: Xixi jiacheng 1913.

/ Tianjing or Skywell

Entrance

. Wells .

a foundation of stone, with a tiled roof. As literacy spread and as county governments became more effective, title deeds came to be written, and land emerged as the principal form of tradable property. Yet the records of individual families are scanty. In all the genealogical records I have read of the Pearl River Delta, only two show floor plans of houses. These drawings will be used below to reveal some aspects of Chinese families over time in the Pearl River Delta. Although floor plans are uncommon among genealogical records, they were quite often prepared by geomancers, who included samples in their handbooks. Figure 12.1 shows the "Simplified Plan of the Big House" [Da wu jianming tu] that was built by a man who lived between 1698 and 1773 (Xixi jiacheng 1913). Taken from the pages of the genealogy of the Zhang surname of Xiangxi village in what once was the Shenzhen district and is now the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the text accompanying this diagram indeed indicates that it was drawn in the context of geomancy. The front entrance to this almost square dwelling opens into a small sunken courtyard, called a tianjing or skywell, which leads then to an entry to the main hall, at the end of which is the domestic shrine. Away from this central axis, the main hall provides access into a pair of flanking bedrooms. Adjacent to the

282

David Faure

y 1 4 f- 14 tIV-ir-, H

'

Altar

SUrpmgj

^Sleeping T

Î'.KiklkMill

Roof plan

Fig. 12.2. Roof plan, floor plan, and view across the roof of a small contemporary dwelling in Guangdong province. 99-100.

Source: Hammond 1992,

1 Ilkitd-R'n„;

Plan

court is a kitchen with a built-in stove, as well as a preparation room in which the rotary rice polisher and the foot-operated mortar and pestle are located. In this preparation room, one corner is shown as "inauspicious." There are also two outside rooms, which may be entered also through a side entrance. The function of the outer side room is unspecified, but the inner side room is used as a storeroom. There would have been few windows in any of the walls and probably only a skylight in the roof. The slanted roofs draw rainwater into cisterns located in the sunken skywell, and a drain opening, shown in the diagram as a small circle, provides the drainage for the house. Three wells for fresh water are located at the front of the dwelling. There is no doubt that this is an elaborate variation of a common arrangement still seen in village houses throughout many parts of Guangdong province (Figure 12.2), where the stores are kept in one of the bedrooms indicated here or in a loft that is built into the main hall (Hammond 1992; Lu and Wei 1990). The Zhang of Xiangxi claim to have been the owners of Shenzhen market, and the man who built the house was known for having defended the family's rights in the village, a reputation implying that he was a fairly wealthy and influential man by local standards. While he had a wife and three sons, there is no record of daughters

Between House and Home

283

Fig. 12.3. "Diagram

of the

Collective

Stove" [He chuan zhi tu] shows a detailed plan of the walled tial compound of individual

residen-

that is made up modular

residential

units, most of which are

separate

"houses" even as the walled

com-

pound or village is a unit for "shared cooking."

Source:

Huo ca. 1529.

in the genealogy of his lineage branch. The house mentioned above, with only two bedrooms, was probably not designed for a family of more than four to five people. The dwelling itself was one among a cluster of similar houses, probably in a single or several rows, that were built together. The house cluster or hamlet would appear as a village, or part of one, hence the name "New Village" applied to it. It is likely that Zhang's brothers and cousins, and then the families of his and their sons, occupied the other houses. The collection of his brothers, cousins, grandsons, and nephews also constituted a "family" of sorts. Calling the single-structure entity in Figure 12.1 "a house" implies that the full array of relatives was not coresident in the same house; thus, the architecture embraces the notion of family division. Figure 12.3, titled "Diagram of the Collective Stove" [He chuan zhi tu], actually shows a residential compound, walled on three sides, made up of individual modular units, most of which are separate "houses," even as the compound is a unit for "shared cooking." The diagram is found in the Ming dynasty family manual, The Family Admonitions of Huo Weiya [Huo Weiyajiaxun],

which is ascribed to the

authorship of Huo Tao (1487-1540). Huo Tao was a very senior court official,

284

David Faure

staunch supporter of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), and a very important man in the transformation of rituals in the Pearl River Delta in the sixteenth century. Among his achievements was to popularize the custom of conducting lineage rituals in buildings officially known as "family temples," and which today are referred to in English as "ancestral halls." The architectural style of the family temple was, prior to a change in law in 1529, maintained as the preserve of the aristocracy. In recognition of this restriction, Zhu Xi in the twelfth century had proposed in the widely circulated Family Rituals of Master Zhu that ancestral sacrifice be conducted by commoners at a shrine placed within a "bedchamber." The difference between the two is fairly intuitive: the family temple was a detached building in a unique style, while the altar set up in the bedchamber would have been looked upon as a domestic shrine. It was very much owing to the efforts of Huo Tao and people close to him that the imperial government recognized the right of commoners to build ancestral halls in their villages. We know that in 1525 Huo Tao built an ancestral hall, a representation of which is indeed shown in Figure 12.3 as embedded in the residential compound of three rows of houses. Thus, the entire compound was to function as a "family" unit that ate its meals from a common stove (Huo Tao ca. 1529). As seen in Figure 12.3, the walled compound consists of a three-compartment building that runs from front to back through its middle, with numerous individual living units lined up in three parallel rows on both sides. In the overall plan of Figure 12.3 the layout shows not only the essential elements of individual village houses as depicted in Figure 12.1, but the whole compound itself could likewise be seen as analogous to a single dwelling. This can be seen clearly if one regards the main doors in both drawings as equivalent, so that the living units shown in Figure 12.3 are equated to the bedrooms of Figure 12.1. Village layouts similar to this type are still commonly found in richer villages of the Pearl River Delta (Figure 12.4). Figure 12.3 clearly illustrates the segregation of men and women within the compound and serves therefore as a rationalization for its unity. Men enter the compound through the openings of the side lanes just inside the main entrance, but they proceed no further than the beginning of the bedchamber. Women, presumably, enter individual dwelling units from the rear entrances, and they have a monopoly of the circulating lane that runs on the two sides and back of the compound and then terminates at one of the women's latrines located in the front corner of the compound. The segregated lanes are connected to the central chambers through two passages, again separately for men and women. Near the central chambers are segregated

Between House and Home

285

Figs. 12.4a-e. Front row of houses at Shitou village, Nanhai

county,

the exact location where Huo Tao built his ancestral hall. The hall depicted in Fig. 12.3 would be the right-hand side building of figure (c), continued into the left-hand side of building d. The passageways as indicated in Fig. 12.3 are clearly visible in (c) and (d). Two halls have been added to the side of the main

functional areas, such as dining halls, a spinning and weaving room, and a guest-

hall, and the residential

room for women. Special provisions are also made for daughters who had married

compounds

have been rebuilt. Source: Photographs by David Faure.

out: they enter the compound through a separate entrance from the women's lane, and they are able to see their brothers in specially designated rooms. While it is tempting to read into the plans shown in Figures 12.1 and 12.3 the architectural representations of the nuclear and the extended family, it is doubtful that the difference can be so discretely described. In reality, both fall somewhere between the two ideals. Family Budgets Shiga Shuzo's emphasis on common budgets and their relation to the continuation of the ancestor's person beyond death in maintaining the family comes across very clearly in Huo Tao's Family Admonitions, in which a ceremony, described in religious terms, is conducted in front of the ancestral altar immediately after the ancestral sacrifice at the New Year. For this ceremony, the spirit tablet of the ancestor is moved to the central chamber, and, as the head of the family stands to its side, the men of the family line up in the corridors and approach the spirit tablet individually to report their achievements for the previous year. The achievements in question are not an abstract description in general terms; the text is very precise in grading the achievements to be reported. A contribution of 5 mu of farmland or 30 taels of

Between House and Home

287

silver to the ancestral estate counts as an upper-grade achievement; 2 mu or 15 taels amounts to a medium-grade achievement; 1 mu or 5 taels, a lower-grade achievement; and a report of no contribution renders the individual as "incapable." An upper-grade achievement entitles the achiever to an award, a medium- or lowergrade achievement carries no award, but the "incapable" for three continuous years are to be punished. Lest there is any doubt that the ancestor is personally drawn into the ceremony, it may be noted that the ritual for the report of the "incapable" consists, in the third year, of the lineage head announcing the punishment on the ancestor's behalf. As members of the lineage are given ancestral land and funds for their livelihood, the contribution to the ancestral estate would have represented a profit that was raised on the entrusted capital. This ceremony in front of the ancestral spirit tablet is not commonly reported, and only two other references are known, both in the Ming dynasty, one in Anhui province and the other in Guangdong. 1 The practice must have died out along with the custom of distributing landed property to male members of the family for use even as the title remained with the ancestral estate. All other reports I have seen indicate that managers were appointed to look after the ancestral estate, and in the Pearl River Delta the common practice was to rotate management among branches of the lineage. The practice of keeping written accounts and posting them at the ancestral hall during the New Year, at which time management changes hands from one lineage branch to another, continues to the present. People like Huo Tao, who sought to extend the neo-Confucian ideals of the family in the sixteenth century, were practical men of affairs, understanding well that common ownership of property required the maintenance of accurate accounts, which were kept in a cupboard located in the lineage's schoolhouse. The financial reports, which Huo required in his Family Admonitions, were therefore clearly spelled out. The income book recorded rents collected in two seasons of the year, while expenditures were kept for specified sacrifices, replacement of sacrificial objects, repair of the ancestral hall, payments for impoverished members of the lineage, payments for descendants of the principal line, disbursements for tax collection, and military dues. Whatever balance of income there was over expenses was to be entered into savings. Pang Shangpeng (1524-1581), Huo Tao's near contemporary and another senior official who came from the Pearl River Delta, specified similar accounting requirements in his equally famous family regulations. Pang made one significant addition: books were to be kept for income and expenses related to funerals and celebrations (Pang 1939). He did not give a reason for the

288

David Faure

stipulation, but it can be surmised that these records kept track not only of money matters, but also of connections among kin and friends. It is significant that written accounts took over from the oral reports made directly to the ancestors. Managers of common property owed their responsibility not only to their living kinsmen, but also to their ancestors and descendants to come, the continuation of an income from the property being a condition whereby sacrifice to the ancestors might be maintained. The managerial act of keeping accounts and the use of property income for ancestral sacrifice, however, also indicate the precise manner in which Huo Tao's house plan must have served only as an ideal. It is unlikely that families held properties in the name of only one ancestor and therefore maintained only one set of accounts. As descendants maintained separate accounts in the names of multiple ancestors and participated in the sacrifices offered to them in different groupings, they defined themselves, in ritual terms, as concomitant members of multiple families. The families that occupied different houses in New Village at Xiangxi, therefore, like the Huo family in the commonstove compound, would have been members of the larger families defined by the accounts they kept and the multiple ancestors to whom they sacrificed. The layout of individual houses, as shown by the plan in Figure 12.1, signified quite clearly that each house might store and polish its own grain, but in ritual terms, the residents would have been, in the presence of the ancestors, also part of larger families. Naturally, families might also divide, and there are quite a few examples of family division contracts extant. Such contracts deal specifically with plots of land and houses that go separately to different sons or their lines of descent, and it was not uncommon to stipulate also that property was to be set aside for the provision of sacrifice for the patriarch whose efforts had created the estate and whose demise had led to a situation where division was necessary. Divided families, therefore, may be thought of as families founded on a new set of accounts, if indeed new accounts were kept. Yet if one continues to define a family only with reference to accounts, this would leave coresidential groups out of the definition. Such coresidential groups usually were the poorer families, whose resources consisted not of land and houses, but of manpower, receipts from the annual harvest, and income from odd jobs and cottage industry. Farmers who kept accounts of their harvests must have been few and far between, as most would not have been sufficiently literate to do so even if they had seen the point. Thus, average farmers usually kept no written record since such records would not have served any particular purpose. 2 Divided families, eating apart, would have drawn on different hoardings of the

Between House and Home

289

harvested grain. Family division, therefore, would have matched residence with the use of common resources, only some of which for a portion of the coresidential groups would have been kept in written accounts. That does not in itself violate the "common property" principle as the basis of family life, but it does mean that the combinations of cohabitation and common property holding become quite complex. Yet perhaps "family" is not quite the word that should be applied to kin groups built around ancestral sacrifice. It may be pointed out that what appear to us as lineages—that is, groups in which the tracing of descent across numerous generations is at the center of recognized relationships—actually begin as discrete families. This, of course, does not rule out fictitious kinship, examples of which were common enough. However, even when kinship is set up fictitiously, it is set up among coresidential and common-property groups. The point has to be made that with migration—if only from one part of the village to another—and family division—when coresidence is realigned with the common holding of property— the group comes closer to the model of a patriarch dominating his immediate descendants than to the ancestor around whom lines of descent are traced primarily through the written genealogies and participation in rituals. When Huo Tao set up his ancestral hall in 1525, he claimed to be only in the sixth generation in descent from the first ancestor who had settled in his village, and there were in the "lineage" no more than forty male members aged 21 and above, most of whom were descended from his great-grandfather.3 Their descendants eventually became a lineage, but up to Huo Tao's time, when the rituals were established, they were set up not for lineage but for a large family group using a common set of accounts and devoted to the single patriarch—the great-grandfather. Coresidential and common-property groups did combine to build larger lineages, but lineages were also created when families continued.4 House, Home, and Family The idealism of the undivided family aside, therefore, the two plans shown in Figures 12.1 and 12.3 represent the view of "the family" as seen from both the individual domestic unit and the ancestral hall. One might draw a distinction between daily meals cooked in the house and ceremonial banquets served at the ancestral hall, but the drawings and the accompanying texts argue that the occupants of the house were members of both the domestic group and the lineage community as "family."

290

David Faure

The choice of words, which so far has been left out of this discussion, underscores this position. In the text that accompanies Figure 12.1, the structure represented by the floor plan is called a wu, or "house," and the walled compound of houses is termed cun, "village." The text accompanying Figure 12.3 refers to the practices within the unit of shared cooking as jujia, or "home-living," a term, as one might say in English, that suggests these are activities that take place "at home," as opposed to activities that take place "away from home." Neither concept adequately portrays "family," with all the connotations of coresidence, common ownership of property, and inheritance. In the Pearl River Delta from the sixteenth century onward, the ideal of coresidence and common property holding would have found its institutional support in the maintenance of ancestral sacrifice, with common property being held for that purpose. Where sacrifice was offered to more than one ancestor, as would have been quite common, it would have been common for many domestic groups to be members of more than one "family." It is true that any meaningful analysis of this topic must come to include a discussion of the development of emotional bonds, companionship, marriage, the sale of women as brides, and the emergence of the cult of gentility. Indeed, some of these subjects had a great deal to do with the ritual changes of the sixteenth century. No doubt, also, in the cruel competition for scarce resources, many people were pushed out of their families and not allowed to propagate within them. Historical records tend to speak only about the successful families, while the losers disappear without a name and without mention. Coresidence and common property holding draw attention to the dynamism of family life in terms of its changing fortunes, conditions that are often mirrored in their residential space (Cohen 1976). A house is built or claimed, property controlled by a patriarch is shared, the family grows, and space is functionally divided. With family division, some property continues to be held in common, while each coresidential unit might set up its own accounts, with the cycle continuing as a group moves out and builds it own house. In the New Territories of Hong Kong, a very good example of a family that went through such a dynamic and organic cycle is that of the Tsang [Zeng] surname at Shan Ha village; the residence was popularly known as Tsang Tai Uk, or the "Tsangs' Big House" in Sha Tin (Figure 12.5). Tsang Tai Uk was built over twenty years for a single family and completed by 1867 as a rectangular fortified "village" of three rows of houses surrounded by massive walls, with watchtowers at its four corners. Tsang Koon-man (ca. 1808-1880), who built the compound, had made his fortune in Hong Kong city in the early days of the

Between House and Home

291

Fig. 12.5. Oblique photograph showing Tsang Tai Uk, or "the Tsangs' Big House," in Sha Tin. Source: Photograph by Ivan Chi Ching Ho 2003.

colony and moved as an outsider into Sha Tin district. The architecture reflects, therefore, both his aspirations for the extended family and an ostentatious demonstration of wealth and status as he moved up in the Sha Tin community. An ancestral hall with a spirit tablet devoted to his ancestors is located at the far end of the compound, directly facing the front entrance. A chamber in the middle row of houses along the line connecting the hall and the entrance was, some time in the later years of the nineteenth century, turned into a "meeting hall," not for "lineage" affairs—for there would have been none such—but for meetings of the principal intervillage alliance at Sha Tin. In this hall, Koon-man and then his descendants displayed the finely carved panel recording his achievement and purchased official title, written by leading Guangdong scholar and official Dai Hongci. Koon-man had six sons and four daughters, so to the end of the nineteenth century, there could not have been many inhabitants in the compound. It was built as much for display as for the housing of posterity (Lee 1995,162; Zeng 1981). An example in the Pearl River Delta, where there are fewer case studies with the same level of detail as those in Hong Kong's New Territories, is that of the Ye surname, a lineage that consists of a group of people who, at least for a while, were coresidential in Yejia Zhuang, or "Ye Family Estate," in the town of Foshan. The walled compound was built in 1877 by one of two twin brothers (Ye Yibin [18201875] and Ye Yunbao [1820-1888]), with houses for members of the family located on the two sides of the ancestral hall, which was dedicated to their father, who died in 1830. Thus, the houses could not have been occupied by more than two to three

292

David

Faure

generations. As the Ye family prospered, partly through business in Hong Kong, part of the family moved away. In 1917, family members registered their common holdings in Hong Kong and Foshan under Hong Kong company law, with the Kwong Tai Company serving as holder of the ancestral property and bound by legal requirements regarding accounting disclosure and managerial liability (Zhong 1999). The family had obviously outgrown coresidence, but it continued to be bound by common property and periodic ritual observance. Coresidence as an aim and ritual sacrifice at a common ancestral shrine together feed into the ideal of the large extended family. The existence of individual living units, wherein domestic groups cook and eat apart, speaks of the reality of frequent family divisions and small families. Yet when the living units are arraigned in or around an ancestral compound and sacrifice at the shrines is supported by properties held in common by different subgroups within the extended family context, a semblance of the exercise of common budgets is created, reified by the sharing of the annual meal held after ancestral sacrifice. The family is never quite as extensive as the aims of coresidence might suggest or ever as small as the group enclosed by a living unit. As domestic groups are nested one within another, sharing different roofs and budgets, the family takes shapes in between the two boundaries of the house and the village.

1. Bashi zongyou zongzhi tushuo 1374; in Zhou and Zhao (1993,15-16.) 2. A very interesting diaiy-cum-account of a southern Anhui farmer in the 1840s has nevertheless recently been published in Shao Hong and Huang Zhifan (2002). 3. The genealogy Shitou Huoshi zupu enumerates 141 biographical entries up to the seventh generation. Of these, dates of birth and death are given for 126 cases—that is, there are 15 cases of missing data. Eliminating the entries of men who were either born after 1525 or died before 1525, 74 cases are left, made up of 47 cases born in 1496 or after. In other words, 27 men living in 1525 were recorded as being older than 20 years of age, and this number might be increased to 42 if all 15 cases of missing data fitted into this category. That is quite unlikely, however. No one among the entries that include the dates of birth in the eighth generation (127 out of 156 reported) was born before 1525. 4. This is inherent in Zheng Zhenman's (2001) study of lineage organization and social change in Fujian during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Between House and Home

13

Ancestral Halls Family, Lineage, and Ritual

The most conspicuous buildings found in village landscapes in southern China are usually ancestral halls, architectural statements of the strength of lineages whose existence extends the concept of familism beyond individual families to include all those sharing a common patrilineal descent from a single ancestor. By their size, height, and ornamentation, as well as the extent of the ritual carried out within them, the halls usually dwarf surrounding houses and stand as imposing structures in what are often rather monotonous compact villages of similar buildings. In villages throughout southern China, ancestral halls often are numerous, ranging from a handful to as many as twenty or thirty. There are also villages with extraordinarily high numbers of ancestral halls, such as Liukeng village in Jiangxi province; it listed ninety-five ancestral halls in the 1826 lineage registry (Li and Chen 2001,149-158) (Figure 13.1). The ancestral halls in single-lineage villages are normally hierarchically organized, ranging from large, focal ancestral halls to medium-size branch halls to very small family halls; all are dotted throughout the village with no apparent pattern or, in some villages, following discrete branch settlement clusters. While the main purpose of ancestral halls is to make regular sacrifices to the ancestors of the lineage, branch, or family, following the prescriptions of neo-Confucianism, the building of an ancestral hall involves much more than this simplistic functional reason. Ancestral halls also serve a symbolic end, just as the compilation of written genealogies served to proclaim distinct identities and boost prestige. During the early Ming dynasty, when freestanding ancestral halls were first allowed to be built, only the scholar elites were permitted the privilege. Such a status was contested among members of the lineage and among villages. When the permission needed for building ancestral halls was relaxed during the subsequent Qing dynasty, not just the scholars, but also the merchant elites constructed them. As ancestral halls proliferated during the late imperial period, it is natural to ask a number of questions: for whom were ancestral halls built, what were the motivations for their construction, and how were the function and meaning expressed in the building itself? Although ancestral halls are distinguished both as a building type in architectural studies and a community entity in sociological and anthropological studies,

295

Fig. 13.1. Maps ofLiukeng

village,

Le'an county, Jiangxi, showing the location of the focal ancestral hall, branch ancestral halls, and family ancestral halls in 1582 (top) and 1826 (bottom).

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they are rarely the center of major research. Historians of Chinese architecture are traditionally divided into those studying classical and official architecture, such as palaces and temples, and those studying vernacular architecture, houses. Despite their importance in the physical and symbolic landscape of the village, ancestral halls seem to have been relegated to a category of semi-official or semi-religious structures outside the research focus of either group of architectural historians. The situation has been rectified in recent years with the publication of several

296

Puay-peng Ho

books on individual villages whose ancestral halls are measured, drawn, and described in terms of their architectural characteristics, as well as the historical patterns of lineage development and the elements contributing to the building of ancestral halls. Only recently have ancestral halls been studied in depth both architecturally and as a social institution within their village environment by using textual evidence found in lineage registries (Liu 2000; Liu 1993; Zhang 2002). In addition, there are increasing numbers of socio-anthropological studies of ancestral halls that yield a more complex picture. When the local history of a village or region is studied, for example, the importance of the ancestral hall within the local community is often underscored not only as a symbol for communal identity, but also as a means to express the multivalent motives for which the ancestral halls were constructed (Faure and Siu 1995; Segawa 1996; Szonyi 2002). These readings of the patronage, function, and utility of ancestral halls suggest that although there is a general underlying pattern, each case is unique, and the richness of the phenomenon is the most rewarding aspect of the study of ancestral halls in China (Ho 2001). Settlement and Lineage Structure Chinese villages are often compact, even as large and densely populated as a medieval European town. T o some degree, ancestral halls in Chinese villages in the south stand prominently like churches in medieval towns in Europe, but they serve very different functions. Two basic types of village settlements are found in China: those that were settled by a number of different surname lineages and those occupied by a single-surname lineage. In a multi-surname settlement, there may be an ancestral hall for each of the lineages residing in the village. These halls tend to be small. In a single-surname village, a focal ancestor, or kaijizu, the ancestor who established the base of the lineage—the earliest ancestor of a particular lineage who migrated to a new locality—can usually be traced as the founder of the settlement, with the size of the village dependent on the length of settlement, the number of inhabitants, and the prosperity of the lineage. Some villages in southern China trace their origins back more than a thousand years and as a result are large in scale and densely populated. In cases where the population of a particular village reached a level where the agricultural land could not sustain its population and anticipated growth, some members of the lineage might have branched out to settle in other locations, thus founding a new village. In many cases, the records show that when a focal village branches out into surrounding areas through the out-migration of some of its

Ancestral

Halls

297

Fig. 13.2. Map showing the nine villages of Ping Shan, Hong Kong. Source: Drawn by Henry Lo.

residents, common surname satellite villages emerge in locations around the focal village. This pattern can be seen clearly in many areas along the coastal region of southern China, where a larger main village has a focal ancestral hall, while smaller surrounding villages may contain branch ancestral halls. Ping Shan village in Hong Kong, for example, was first settled around six hundred years ago. Today, there are two main villages and seven satellite villages in the general area with residents surnamed Tang [Deng], all of whom are related to the focal ancestor who established Ping Shan village (Figure 13.2). The two main villages in the center of the settlement each have around six hundred inhabitants. Walls surround three villages, and some, housing up to five hundred inhabitants, even have a moat. The remaining villages all were set up in the last two hundred

298

Puay-peng

Ho

Wentang
«?

V" >

[Sanhuang

zhi shi wanwu sheng], to the time when the Great Qing sat enthroned in

the imperial palace. Still in the Old Palace, the deposed emperor traced these double-knot/doublegourd patterns, composing and configuring his Nine-Nine quatrains. In doing so, he counted the Nines and recounted the history of empire and of recent events. Under these peculiar circumstances, the custom that for centuries had joined emperor to commoner might have brought some comfort to Pu'yi as he made his own transition from one state to the other.

This chapter was developed from the author's article "Three Rams and Three Friends: The Working Life of Chinese Auspicious Motifs" (Bickford 1999). Some of the material in the present chapter appeared in that article in different form. 1. The tapestry is recorded in Hu Jing (1816, 7:34856). For a large color reproduction, see Zhu (1986, no. 98). 2. It is reproduced in Rudova (1988, no. 52); other editions and variations are widely reproduced elsewhere. 3. Regulated by the solar calendar, the Winter Solstice and Beginning of Spring Festivals do not fall on fixed days of the lunar calendar. The Beginning of Spring may fall before or after the official New Year's Day. See Bodde (1936); Bodde and Bogan (1994, 4, Appendixes A and B). 4. My discussion is based on Rudova (1988, no. 52), with modifications. For other charts of this type and variations of the weather-marking code, see Bodde (1936, 88-89) and Bodde and Bogan (1994, 54-55)5. "Heaven Protects" [Tianbao], Shijing, Mao no. 166, stanzas 3 and 6, in Hung (1934); translated in Waley (1937, no. 167). 6. Recorded in Wang Jie et al. (1971,3U707A); the entry records the object as a kesi tapestry with added embroidery. See Watt and Wardwell (1997, Figure 81,194). Although Hu et al. (1816) enter this textile as a Song dynasty work, Watt and Wardwell consider that Mongol costume and saddled goat are indicative of a Yuan composition. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Welcoming Spring (Figure 15.8), a pictorial textile depicting boys, sheep, and goats dated to the Yuan or Ming dynasties, once may have been contiguous to the National Palace Museum panel, according to a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition label, Spring 2000. The composition of the National Palace Museum textile is the same, in central particulars, as that of Qianlong's tapestry, but it is narrower—about half the width of the latter work— suggesting that either the National Palace Museum gauze was trimmed or that its composition was expanded by Qing weavers to produce a wall hanging corresponding in size to Qianlong's desired dimensions. Of course, another earlier pictorial textile might have served as the model for the Qing work.

Maggie

Bickford

7. Transcribed under Fang Song kesi Jiuyang xiaohan tu [After a Song tapestry, Nine Yang Disperse the Cold Picture] in Hu et al. (1816, 7:3485!!). 8. Figure 15.6 is reproduced in color in National Palace Museum (1989-, 5:205). The Taibei National Palace Museum collections hold many such paintings (depicting three, nine, or eighty-one sheep and goats); for a sample, see National Palace Museum (1989, 2:75, 79; 3:111, 235, 251, 253, 255; 5:113, 205, 267, 269, 343, 369, 377). Some of these works are assigned to named and anonymous Song artists; the paintings seem later, some much later. Many of these works bear titles that are disconnected from their original function as Nine-Nines or Sanyang images; this, in my view, is a tribute to the painter's success in configuring the requisite rebus elements and auxiliary auspicious motifs into plausible vignettes that stand on their own as figures-in-a-landscape or figure paintings. For an example of a fully expanded eighty-one-goat composition, see Yuanren Baixiangyan

qing [(Yuan artist) One hundred

blessings and abundant joys], reproduced in National Palace Museum (1989-, 5:263). 9. This must have been a very popular pattern because many examples survive in public and private collections in East Asia and the West. For another example, see Zhao Feng (1999, no. 08.09). 10. Cammann (1953, 69) parsed the fragment in Figure 15.12, unpacking its dense store of luck. Focusing on the taiji disc (the configuration of which suggested to him the stylized character shou [long life]) flanked by swastikas, he decoded these elements as a visual pun for the phrase Wanwan shou [Ten thousand, ten thousand years] and concluded that this textile was made to serve a dual function: it celebrated the solstice, and it celebrated the birthday of the emperor. See also Bickford (1999,151-152). 11. Another rubbing of this chart is in the collections of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. I wish to thank Hiram Woodward for supplying a photograph and sharing research notes with me. 12. Liu Ruoyu (1641, 20.9a-b), read together with Lu Bi, compiler, Ming gong shi [Ming Palace history]. Lti's text is an abridgement of Liu's work. M y discussion here is based on Bickford (1999,139-140), which has an extensive discussion of the charts and their texts. 13. These charts and their popular modern printed copies are often attributed to the Ming emperor Xuanzong (r. 1426-1436). However, extant charts from the Old Palace (Figure 15.16) are associated with Xuanzong of the Qing dynasty, known as the Daoguang emperor. Some Qing sources attribute to the Qianlong the invention of the Jiujiu xiaohan tu bearing the text seen in Figure 15.16, inscribed in the emperor's hand; see Zhao Xinggen (1996, 313). For a palace chart made for the period Guangxiu 31/32 (1905/1906), see Fu (1982). 1 4 . 1 am grateful to Ellen Laing for sharing her research notes on this print with me.

The Symbolic Seasonal Round in House and Palace

371

16

Making Room for Intimacy Domestic Space and Conjugal Privacy in Rural North China

The social significance of a house derives from the simple fact that a dwelling provides not only physical shelter for a household, but also an institutionalized and humanized space within which its residents interact with one another, as well as with visitors from the world beyond. Much as in other societies, traditional Chinese dwellings express and model family organization and give shape to the web of social and ethical norms, beliefs, and values, a subject discussed in several chapters. Indeed, the values of whatever family occupies a house, as well as its behavior patterns and interpersonal relations, transform any dwelling into a home. It follows logically that new trends in house design, which are manifested in the physical form of contemporary homes, will be suggestive of important social changes that are occurring within the family. Anthropologists, including those who specialize in China, have long noticed the close link between house form and the structure of the family. As Francis L. K. Hsu noted a half century ago in his classic work Under the Ancestors' Shadow, the differences in size and quality of traditional houses served as important symbols of the social standing of a family and clear markers of economic class (1967 [1948], 28-41). A common patrilineal ideology in the past guided the layout or design of houses, as well as how dwelling space was used in the homes of both well-to-do and poor families. In the homes of prosperous extended families, parents occupied the central stage in the domestic space, yet even when a poor family could not afford a separate functional room, the parents' bedroom became the center of family life and served as the symbol of family continuity (Yang 1945, 40). U-shaped dwellings are among the housing types that best reflect the continuity of the extended family group in traditional China. This form caught the attention of scholars in many disciplines, particularly those who conducted fieldwork in Taiwan and South China, where they saw the organization of living space in such dwellings as forming templates for human relations. A U-shaped dwelling normally started with a rectilinear base that consists of a central room with one or two rooms on each side (Figure 16.1). Over time, as a family group grew and divided into multiple units, new rooms might be added to extend the rectangle or additions constructed

373

Fig. 16.1. U-shaped dwellings of this type (these are in Taiwan) represent a schematic diagram of family relationships within the house. Source:

WMimßm^mm

Lin 1990, 24.

to create a U-shaped compound composed of flanking wings (Figure 16.2). The expansion from the rectilinear core normally was incremental and tied to the fortunes and needs of the household (Knapp 1986, 91-96). Margery W o l f s description of the rectilinear house in Taiwan mirrors those elsewhere in southern China: Fig. 16.2. The progressive development from an I- to an L- to a U-shaped dwelling mirrors the expansion of a Chinese family from its nuclear origins.

"At each end of the rectangle . . . there are indications of the ultimate design—an unnecessary door, a carefully made archway clumsily boarded over until the day it will open into a new wing housing the family of a grandson. The rectangle becomes first an L and finally a U whose arms may be extended again and again" (1968, 24) (Figure 16.3). Yet what might appear to be a smooth and natural progression often was frustrated by the natural decline of a family or tensions within a family that forced changes in the use of the residential space: At some point the family would divide into smaller units, but there would be no change in the compound's residential arrangement other than the construction of additional kitchens. Except for the central room, all rooms in the compound are distributed among the new families during division, together with other such family property as land, farming equipment, or shops. Because the central room is not involved, the first family partition creates two or more families owning in common this room if nothing else. Thus in most compounds there eventually is a multifamily agnatic group, which continues to increase in its individual membership and in the number of constituent

374

Yunxiang

Yan

Fig. 16.3. In anticipation of the expansion of this dwelling via the addition of a wing, this bricked-in passageway is designed so that it can be opened in the future as the needs of the family expand. Taiwan. Source: Photograph by Ronald G. Knapp 1966.

families. At any given time . . . there are compounds (and agnatic groups) at different stages of development; only the base of the U compound is completed in some compounds, others may already have the full U shape and even two or more wings. (Cohen 1976, 21-23; see also Gallin 1966; Wolf 1968) Doorways might again be boarded up as a family divides its property so that the "physical act of cyclical opening and closing of the doorway becomes one of the concrete symbols of the changing social relations within a family. Since the building itself is much more rigid and predetermined, while the social relations are flexible and fluid, the extent to which family life interacts with the home is necessarily mediated by the more immediate and tangible tasks such as boarding up a doorway" (Liu 1980, 55-56). As discussed above in Chapter 11, another common feature of the traditional Chinese house was to separate the activities of men and women, both spatially and socially, and to downplay the importance of conjugal intimacy. Among wealthy families, women typically lived in an exclusive part of the household, which created a strictly enforced boundary between the inner quarter and outer portions of the house (see Bray 1997). "But this separation is also psychological, and even extends to rural villages, where it is common to see an obvious indifference between husbands and wives" (Fei 1992 [1947], 86). According to Fei, this is because the axes of relations in a traditional Chinese family are that of father/son and mother/daughter-

Making Room for

Intimacy

375

Fig. 16.4. Within a cave in Shaanxi province, arrangement

dwelling

the interior

of living space contin-

ues to be clearly

differentiated

according to gender: one space centers around the heated bed, or kang (here called a pei,

according

to the local dialect), which

women

occupy and which is a space of family intimacy, while the other is the (dining) table, which men use as a space ofpublic

interaction.

Source: Liu 2000, 44.

in-law, while the conjugal relationship involving husband and wife plays only a relatively minor role. As a result, discipline and hierarchy took precedence over intimacy and emotionality in interpersonal interactions in the domestic sphere (Fei 1992 [1947], 84-86; see also Baker 1979,11-25). Even in a single-room cave dwelling in northwest rural China, there is still today a sexual division of the domestic space. According to Xin Liu (2000,42-51), cave dwellings in villages in Shaanxi province are divided into two halves; one centers around the heated brick bed [kang or huokang], which women occupy, while the other is the table, which men occupy (Figure 16.4). Conjugal intimacy and privacy are difficult to develop under such circumstances. This functional divide also symbolizes the opposition between family relationships and public interaction within domestic space. Given the rapid and often dramatic changes in both the Chinese family and larger social settings in recent decades, several questions may be asked. What has happened to traditional dwellings and to the management of domestic space? Are the continuity of the extended family and the centrality of the parents-son relationship still dominating principles in the design of houses in contemporary China? Is sexual separation and indifference still part of family life inside the house? While it is not possible to give global answers to these questions for China as a whole, ethnographic evidence gathered in villages in Heilongjiang province reveals some interesting clues. In Heilongjiang, the northeasternmost of China's provinces, the winter season normally lasts for more than five months, and for a substantial part of the season, the temperature often falls 20-30 degrees below zero centigrade. Due to the severe

376

Yunxiang Yan

winters and widespread economic shortages, villagers in this region have generally lived in quite crowded housing conditions ever since the beginning of settlement in the early nineteenth century. Indeed, until the early 1980s it remained common that a large family—both men and women of two or more generations—slept in the same room and often on the same kang. Traditional dwellings and spatial arrangements, however, were largely swept away during a wave of house construction and remodeling that started in the mid-1980s, and by the late 1990s villagers were competing with one another in adopting "modern" house designs. New notions of intimacy and privacy began to emerge as important concerns in family life as individuals began to have their own private lives inside the house. As a result, the home has changed from being a corporate structure to a private haven. In the following, I will first review patterns of spatial arrangements in old dwellings, as well as in the wave of house remodeling since the mid-1980s, focusing on how villagers defined and were defined by the spatial relations in various types of house plans. In the next two sections I will examine the changes brought about by "modern" housing designs. The quest for privacy has affected all members in a family and thus has altered a number of intrafamily relations, so I will focus on the development of conjugal intimacy and privacy. (For other aspects of the same process, see Yan 2003, chs. 3 and 5.) Data presented in this chapter were collected over a decade of fieldwork from 1989 to 1999 in Xiajia village, Heilongjiang province; they built on the fact that I lived in Xiajia as an ordinary farmer from 1971 to 1978. With a population of 1,492 in 1998, the village remained a farming community even after the rural reforms brought decollectivization in 1983, but the villagers' livelihood has been closely tied to the market by a new mode of commodity production. To increase profits from farming, the villagers all switched to growing high-yield maize, which is used as commercial animal feed; they sold their maize to state and private buyers and then purchased wheat and rice from the market for their own consumption. Since the late 1980s, temporary jobs in the cities have become an additional important source of cash income. Average per capita income in Xiajia has remained slightly below the national average: it was 528 yuan in 1988 and 616 yuan in 1990, while the national average in these two years was 545 and 623 yuan respectively. The situation was worse during the 1990s, and the living conditions of most villagers showed little sign of improvement in comparison to the 1980s. Official figures during the 1990s, however, were not reliable because while the village economy stagnated, cadres were under pressure to inflate their achievements. For instance, the reported per

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capita income in 1997 was 2,700 yuan, a figure that even the village cadres openly admitted to being false. Nevertheless, all villagers I interviewed agree that living conditions had improved to a great extent in comparison to those of the earlier collective period. Some households have been able to take advantage of the new opportunities of the reform era and have become quite affluent in recent years, contrasting sharply with others who have been left behind (see Yan 1992). Spatial Arrangements in Old Houses Prior to 1949, differences in housing and domestic spatiality in Xiajia could be distinguished only between the limited number of local elite and the general village population. The few rich and powerful landlord families lived in large compounds that were encircled by high walls, with a main dwelling consisting of multiple rooms Fig. 16.5. A representative

walled

and smaller, detached ancillary structures, such as simple sheds for the use of hired

compound of a richer family in

laborers, draft animals, and storage (Figure 16.5). On the other hand, the majority

pre-liberation

of villagers lived either in very simple clay and grass houses or, even worse, in small

northeastern

China

is the home of the novelist Xiao Hong, who was born to a landlord family in Hunan county, Heilongjiang.

Source: Wang Zhili and Zhang

huts that were built by leaning several logs toward the center of a frame, with walls comprised merely of grass mats and twigs that were covered on the outside with thick mud (Figure 16.6).

Zugang 1994, 49.

Fig. 16.6. Simple rural dwellings of this type were ubiquitous in Northeast and North China well into the twentieth century. Surrounded by a stockade of grain stalks to form a modest yard, this nearly collapsed dwelling was built of mud plastered over walls made of grain stalks. Source: Photograph by Yunxiang Yan.

A N

ioTo y

:T§'

s

central room

I

o iEoza

kang(bed)

I

t -

Fig. 16.7. In this schematic representation of a pre-1980 traditional three-bay dwelling, four round stoves in the corners of the "central" or "outer" room are connected to U-shaped kang in the adjacent "east room" and "west room." Source: Drawing by Hu Yanbo.

According to older villagers, the best thing that the Chinese revolution did for poor people was to make it possible for everyone to marry and build a reasonable dwelling. Indeed, from the 1950s to the early 1980s, Xiajia villagers were able to construct houses that resembled one another both inside and outside, with only minor variations in size. Throughout this period, a relatively common type of three-room house was built with a south-facing wall of windows and an entryway in the middle of the wall. Each dwelling was sited so that its facade faced south in order to absorb maximum sunshine for heat and light, especially during the winter. In overall form

Fig. 16.8. As seen from the "outer" or "central" room into the "west room," the relationship between one of the cooking stoves and the nankang, "south kang," is clear. The kitchen space also serves as a hallway into the living/bedroom spaces, as well as for temporary storage. Source: Wang and Zhang 1994, 45-

and structure, this type of simple dwelling was similar to single-story rectangular houses typical of North China (Knapp 2000,167-175). The three rooms were called the east room [dongwu], the west room [xiwu], and the outer room [waiwu] (Figure 16.7). It is interesting to note that the "outer room" was actually in the center and was where the entrance was located. Some families, like the majority of villagers prior to the revolution, however, were able to build only a two-room house, in which case one room was termed the east room and the other the outer room. Unless the space was absolutely necessary, many families used the west room only for storage or as a bedroom during the summer season. Such a three-room house could accommodate the needs of a family throughout its development. The central or outer room was used as a kitchen, hallway, and temporary storage space, and some families also kept their pigs in this room during the winter season. Two (in some cases three or four) stoves occupied the corners of the outer room,

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leaving only limited space in the center for people to walk about and work. Each stove was attached to a nearby kang built along the walls in the east room. When the stove was on, the smoke and heat traveled through a set of zigzagged flues or passageways within the heated bed, eventually exiting through a chimney that was located in a back corner along the northern wall of the house. The "south bed" [nankang] and "north bed" [beikang], named according to their respective locations in the room, as shown in Figure 16.8, were sometimes joined by a narrower and smaller bed called ayaokang, literally the "waist bed." To keep warm during the winter, entire families packed themselves onto the kang in the east room, which was considered the best of all the rooms, where they sat cross-legged on the heatdissipating surface. When the children were still young, they usually used only the south bed for most of their activities. Sleeping arrangements were hierarchical. The privileged place, reserved for the most senior male in the household and his spouse (in the next position), was the end of the bed closest to the stove, called the "bed head," or kangtou. Other members slept in a row according to their generational rank, sex, and age. Usually, a daughter (or granddaughter in some cases) slept either at the far end of the south bed or in the north bed because she was ranked low and may also have had a special need for privacy. Until the 1970s, newly married young couples lived in the same rooms with the rest of the members of the groom's family—sometimes eight to ten people—sleeping on the north bed, with only a hanging curtain in front of their bed to separate them from the sleeping space of other family members. When family division occurred, each of the newly established nuclear families got a stove and a kang attached to the stove. A house therefore might include four separate families living in two bedrooms, as shown in Figure 16.7. Since the mid-1970s, some young couples have preferred to move into another family's house, where either they alone occupied the west room or they shared the east room with the host family and slept on the north bed of that room. It was not unusual for two unrelated families to live not only in the same house, but also in the same room. The outer room was not supposed to be used as a family function space other than for cooking and storage. Rather, it was the east room as "bedroom" that in fact served as the household's all-purpose space even though it was not spacious. Kang took up most of the physical space of the east room, leaving only a small square in the center, normally 40-60 square feet. It was here on the beds that most family activities took place: corn was husked, other agricultural products were processed, and food was prepared for meals. A family consumed its meals while sitting cross-

380

Yunxiang Yan

legged on the surface of the bed by utilizing a short-legged raised table. On the kang women did their sewing, small children played during cold days, and visiting friends gathered and chatted. When a guest visited a home, the welcome gesture was to call him or her "up to the bed." From a contemporary urban perspective, there was obviously not much privacy or personal space under such conditions. Everyone was constantly under the watchful eyes and within the hearing distance of everyone else, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. The absence of privacy made it especially difficult for couples to develop bonds and mutual attraction and contributed to reinforcing the centrality of the vertical and hierarchical parents-son relationship in family life. Many old and middle-aged villagers indeed recall that when they were young and newly married, they were discouraged by their parents from spending time with their wives at home. " A man should go out and hang out with the men," one villager told me. Thus, it was certainly not accidental that during the collective period, the headquarters of the production teams all had expansive kang that could accommodate several dozen people at the same time. Such places became favorite spots for village men during that period, locations where they could chat with fellow team members or play poker. As a result, a young wife would either stay with her in-laws in their limited and confined space or sometimes go out with peers to other homes. The only time for a young couple to be together was at bedtime; however, because of the sleeping arrangements, this was hardly quality time in terms of intimacy. New House Designs since the 1980s Significant change occurred in the early 1980s, shortly after the rural economic reforms and decollectivization. The initial success of household farming and the diversified economy increased peasant incomes rapidly and led to a high tide in house construction in Xiajia during the second half of the 1980s. M y 1991 survey shows that 102 new houses were built after 1983 (mostly between 1985 and 1988), and 121 houses were rebuilt or enlarged. Traditionally, as noted, villagers had built their houses with clay walls and grass roofs, but most, if not all, of the new houses were built with brick walls and tile roofs. The availability of cement and other modern construction materials enabled villagers to build larger houses or to enlarge their old ones. New aspirations also developed as more and more villagers had opportunities to observe and even to experience urban lifestyles when they had temporary jobs in the cities.

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Floor Plan of a 1985 House Fig. 16.9. Among the experimental housing models of the early 1980s is this three-bay dwelling with a tradi-

\

tional large, interconnected kang in the "east room" and a kang in the "west room" (both of which are con-

/

nected to large stoves just inside the

I! scr

front door) and also a separate back ZZTJB

bedroom. Each of the rooms has a large window along the rear wall. Source: Drawing by Hu Yanbo.

i

o

kang(bed)

s

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The first wave of change was rather moderate and experimental. As represented in Figure 16.9, a new house would typically be a three-bay dwelling with a traditional, large interconnected kang in the east room, a kang in the west room, both connected to large stoves just inside the front door, and also a separate back bedroom with a window. Then, fairly quickly, came more radical changes, as shown in the floor plan in Figure 16.10. This is a house built in late 1987 by the then village head; it was regarded as the most advanced design at the time. Many villagers copied this model in the following years, thus triggering a new wave of house remodeling. The internal space of this house measures approximately 740-780 square feet, quite large by 1980 standards. The owner made a revolutionary change in house design by dividing the house into three functional areas (even though it is a four-room structure), separating the areas with walls and doors. The entire southern half of the house is made up of two large rooms without kang, plus an entrance door in the center. This was the first time in Xiajia village that the notion of a separate room without kang was put into practice. Following urban usage this type of room was referred to as keting, or simply ting, literally meaning the "guest lounge" or "the lounge," but I will hereafter translate it as "living room." In this particular case, there were two living rooms, one for the village head and his wife and the

382

Yunxiang Y an

Fig. 16.10. Built in late 1987 by the then village head, this dwelling copied by many villagers. into three functional

Floor Plan of a 1987 House

was

Divided

areas—two

large living areas in the front,

three

bedrooms in the rear, each with a kang, and a designated

kitchen.

Source: Drawing by Hu Yanbo.

other for their grown children. At the time the house was built, the family had an unmarried daughter and an unmarried son, and the mother of the village head also lived with them. To accommodate each individual's needs, the northern half of the house was divided into four equal-sized rooms. The village head and his wife slept in the east room, while his mother and daughter used the adjacent room. The son was given the far west room because he was older than the daughter and of marriage age. The kitchen was moved to the back and used to separate the son's room from his parents' room, hence creating more privacy for both. Through interviews I learned that when the father was not at home, which was normally the case, the daughter and her friends usually occupied the east living room, while the son and his friends used the west living room. The mother spent a lot of time in her own bedroom, either alone or with her friends, sometimes sharing the room with her daughter and other young girls. Both living rooms were furnished with sofas and coffee/tea tables—another new development in Xiajia village in the late 1980s. The east room, however, was better decorated because the father sometimes used it to entertain cadres from the town government or other villages. Another interesting development is that the size of the beds in this 1987 house was reduced so that there was more ground space in the bedrooms, which were also

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Floor Plan of a 1997 House Fig. 16.11. By 1997, a reconfiguration

dramatic

of the house had

taken place, not only with the shifting of the stoves and kitchen to a rear location, where they

continued

to be linked to adjacent kang in bedrooms, but also with the placement of a "master bedroom" some distance from other A hallway facilitates

at bedrooms.

movement

among the various separate

func-

tional spaces. A large family

living

room now dominates the space in the house, and a significant

addi-

tion to the design is a separate room, including a full-sized

bathbathtub

and a shower. Source: Drawing by Hu Yanbo.

much smaller. This meant that when the door was closed, the bedroom could function as an independent room, instead of merely as a huge bed. For instance, grooming, a daily task that the men had previously performed in the kitchen/outer room and the women in the old-style east room, was now performed instead in one's own bedroom; thus personal grooming indeed became a more personal and private matter. When the door was closed, each person could also wash his/her bodies in private, a new development that was most appreciated by young women. The availability of heating resources made it possible to reduce the size of the bed and remove it from the living room. Thanks to the high-yield maize and the heavy use of chemical fertilizer, villagers could harvest not only more grain, but also more corn stems and corncobs—the major source of cooking and heating fuel. Many villagers built a separate heating system in their houses, using the corn stems and corncobs to heat the water-tube boiler. More affluent families increasingly preferred to use coal purchased from the market for winter heating, leaving their extra corn stems and corncobs unused in the field. The latest and perhaps potentially most important change was the addition of a bath and shower room in a house that was built in 1997, as shown in Figure 16.11. Although it is a three-room structure, it is 150 square feet larger than the 1987 model. Because of the improvements in construction materials in the 1990s, vil-

384

Yunxiang Yan

lagers were able to further increase the size of the new houses. Comparing the 1997 house with the 1987 house, we can see that the couple's bedroom—now a "master bedroom"—is larger than the other rooms, imitating urban designs in China's modernizing cities, which boast stylish bedrooms in each apartment unit. Furthermore, in this particular case, a central hallway separates the main bedroom from the other two rooms, used by the couple's three children. The hallway serves as a transit area that links the bedrooms to the kitchen, and when the bedroom doors are closed, the hallway also separates the inner space from visitors. According to my informants, most new houses in the late 1990s bore similar features and these patterns emerged as well in villages all over China. The major new feature of the 1997 house, however, is the bathroom at the upper right corner, next to the kitchen. The bathroom boasts a full-size bathtub with a shower above, and both the walls and ground are covered with white tiles. There is no running water in Xiajia and the surrounding area, so having a bathroom is quite a luxury. In order to make the bathroom work, the owner of the house dug a well in the backyard and then used pipes to drain water to and from the bathtub. As this operation consumes both time and energy, the family used the bathroom only during the summer. This house was not the first to have an indoor bathroom and certainly was not the last—virtually all new houses built in the late 1990s added this feature. Although several families found the new fashion useless and ended up using the bathroom for storage instead, more and more villagers had begun to use it during the summer season. The happiest beneficiaries were the women, who, unlike the men, who could bathe naked in the nearby small river and ponds, now finally had a sanctuary in which to wash their bodies. Even with the addition of a bathroom, the family toilet was still placed outside the house (although the form of the family toilet had also changed since the 1980s). In the past, families used a latrine, which was typically located at either end of the house—outside, of course. The entryway was not blocked or covered, and excretions were left for the pigs. When I went to Xiajia village for my first fieldwork in 1989,1 was surprised to find that my landlord had built a pit toilet at the front left corner of the courtyard; it was fully walled and roofed, with a door that could be locked from the inside. My landlord proudly told me that his toilet was a model for others, as I was to find out later on. Some older villagers, however, complained that the new-style toilet smelled terrible. Economic prosperity certainly is a crucial factor motivating villagers to improve their dwellings; the wave of house construction in the early 1980s resulted directly

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from the rapid increase in peasant incomes in Xiajia and the rest of rural China. However, it would have been easier to merely copy the old styles in order to build better and larger houses than to experiment with new interior designs. Yet it is clear that domestic space is both a physical and a social construct. Behind or underneath the specific house forms, there are indeed underlying principles by which people categorize their relationships and organize their everyday lives. Spatial change in Xiajia thus should not be regarded as merely a one-on-one response to the improvement in economic conditions. Instead it should be understood as part of the overall transformation in the private lives of individuals and families; the transformation is characterized by a rise of autonomy among the youth, a decline of patriarchal power, and, at a deeper level, a rising awareness of the individual. In other words, house remodeling should also be viewed as an effort on the part of villagers to accommodate the demands for conjugal independence and privacy, which can be examined at two levels—that of the family and that of the individual. Family Privacy and the Notion oflnteriority The aforementioned changes in house form are by no means arbitrary. They are influenced by and in turn reshape the changing ways in which families interact with one another as well as with the official/public. At the same time that a family reduced the size of the kang and put them in separate, enclosed bedrooms, it also created a transitional space in the living room where its members could receive and entertain guests. The living room also came to serve as the center of family activities, since the television set, the clock, and sofa or chairs would be placed there. The most obvious result of having such a space is to protect the privacy of the family because people can literally put on a "public face" in the living room when dealing with visitors, while they conduct their private lives behind the closed doors of the bedrooms. I first noticed the difference during my 1989 fieldwork, when some villagers had separate living rooms while others did not. In the new houses I was invited to sit on a bench, a chair, or a sofa in the living room and chat with my informants as one would normally do either in urban China or in the United States. But when I visited families in traditional-style houses, I reverted to earlier customs—going straight to the heated bed, taking off my shoes, and jumping onto the bed and sitting at the inner corner, the position reserved for family guests. This was all done, of course, with a warm invitation from the host; if not, then I knew I was not welcome. As time passed, at the end of the 1990s, I found myself increasingly directed to the liv-

386

Yunxiang Yan

ing rooms, some of which were quite fancy, as only the poorest families continued to live in traditional-style houses. As a visiting anthropologist, I could literally feel the inner-outer boundaries. In the new houses, I could no longer take a quick look around the house and get a basic sense of the economic standing of the family because now a part of the house was hidden from the public gaze. I could no longer keep the entire family together during my interviews. Previously, when I visited and talked with one member of a family, the other members were also present—if they were home—because there was no other place for them to escape. In the new houses, they could stay in their own bedrooms if they wished, no longer having to deal with me. On the other hand, because of the new house design, I was able to have a small room of my own in my host family's house, thus making both my life and my work more convenient and pleasant. My own experience in this connection allowed me to understand and appreciate the meanings of the changing spatial arrangements in a family house. However, it must be acknowledged that the separation of the bedrooms from the living room is not as rigid as in contemporary American homes. Indeed, what occurs depends on the social distance between a visitor and the host. For example, more often than not, close friends or relatives are invited into the host's bedroom, where some can even take off their shoes and climb onto the kang. It is an interesting fact that where the host has a married son living in the same house, the young couple's bedroom is regarded as more private than even that of the parents. During my household survey, I was sometimes invited to the parents' bedroom but never to the bedroom of the married son unless I specifically requested to take a look at the newlyweds' room. Here the significant development is that in the remodeled house, the host or hostess can determine which part of the house is to be open to the visitor. In other words, because of the new house designs, a physical-social threshold emerged in individual dwellings that separated the inside and insiders from the outside and outsiders. In the process, the accessibility of the family to the public was reduced and a sense of interiority at home was created. When I discussed my findings about the spatial inside/outside divide with two village cadres and one government official from the township, they told me that they had had similar experiences when they visited peasant families to implement state policies (such as collecting levies or enforcing birth control regulations). It was quite common for a housewife simply to tell the cadres that the household head, her husband, was not at home, with the result that there was no way for the cadres to carry out their jobs. This new situation contrasts sharply with the previous

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circumstances, whereby cadres seemingly had the right to enter any home at will and without notifying the host in advance. Another cadre, who worked as the head of a production team during the collective period, said that during busy seasons he often had to change a scheduled laborer's assignment, going to a team member's home sometimes late at night or in the early morning to reassign the individual. "I sometimes saw a couple still holding one another in sleep, and I simply woke them up from their beautiful dreams," he recalled with an obvious tone of satisfaction. It is important to note that villagers did not lock their houses at night during the collective period. Conjugal Privacy and Intimacy In addition to fencing off outsiders, the recent changes in domestic spatiality also enable individuals to have their own personal space in the house, thus protecting the privacy of individuals within the family, especially that of the husband and wife. The direct result of house remodeling such as shown in Figures 16.9-16.11 above is to allow a couple to have its own bedroom and, in many cases, to offer the same to aged parents and grown children. In many families, this spatial reorganization has increased conjugal privacy to a significant extent and contributed to the bonding and affection between husband and wife. This can be illustrated by the experiences of an old friend, a forty-one-year-old man who had worked in the same production team as I during the 1970s. During an informal interview with him in 1997,1 started to talk about the implications of a separate bedroom for the intimate life of married couples. With no hesitation, he jumped up and said, "No need to hem and haw. It's straightforward. Let me tell you a simple thing. I never slept naked with my wife until we had our own house, and that was ten years after we married! For two years we lived in the north bed of my uncle's home, and we always had to be quiet—you know what I mean? It was awful!" This man's experience was by no means unique in the past, as couples normally kept their clothes on in bed. Occasionally, there might be rumors in the village about a naked couple who had accidentally been seen by other people, with the couple then becoming a target of public teasing as well as criticism for its carelessness. Although my data do not provide a systematic account, based on what I heard from villagers, by the 1990s it was rather common for young couples to make love fully undressed. A separate bedroom obviously increased their sense of safety. When asked about the reasons for choosing to live in a nuclear family, most

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Yunxiang Yan

Xiajia residents answered with two words: shunxin, or "satisfaction/happiness," and fangbian, "convenience." The former is not difficult to understand, as many villagers asserted, "Life is always happier when you can manage family life yourself" [Rizi zongshi ziji guozhe shunxin]. In other words, the power to make decisions and the joy of conjugal independence can make one feel happy. The second term, fangbian, however, is more complicated and can be understood only in relation to shunxin. When villagers explained that one may feel more fangbian in a nuclear family, they did not merely mean "convenience" or "making things easier," as the term usually implies. In most newly established nuclear households, couples frequently encountered "inconveniences" when they needed an extra hand for household chores, or when they lacked the necessary capital for the household economy, or when they needed someone to take care of the newborns. In this context fangbian refers to the notion of family privacy, and a couple's demand for fangbian represents an effort to reduce the accessibility of the conjugal space to others (see, e.g., Laslett 1973). In a nuclear family a couple may have more fangbian to develop conjugal intimacy, to be left alone, and to make decisions without parental intervention. Because of these special kinds of "conveniences," life in a nuclear family is considered to be more shunxin—that is, happier. Thus, it is easy to understand why young villagers—especially young wives—welcome such radical changes in house design. An age-old complaint of women had been that they could not spend much time alone with their spouses when they lived with their parents-in-law and unmarried siblings-in-law in an old-style house. As one young woman put it, "You always felt as though you were being watched, that there were eyes around the house all the time." The pursuit of conjugal privacy, as reflected in the local notions of shunxin and fangbian, goes beyond the daily appropriation of domestic space. Young couples now also defend their personal freedom and independence in terms of sishi, or "personal matters/business." One of the most common complaints from the young villagers, for instance, had been that their parents were too nosy and always liked to interfere in their personal business. Admittedly, sometimes the younger generation could be quite defensive about "personal business," to the degree that its uncompromising position often triggered serious intergenerational conflicts in stem families (for details, see Yan 2003, ch. 4).

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It should be noted that Xiajia villagers do not use the term "privacy" per se, nor are they familiar with the trendy term yinsi, which is the Chinese translation of the Western notion of privacy. I doubt Chinese villagers in other regions are familiar with the term either, even though it has been popularized recently in urban areas.1 As indicated above, a common reason to embrace the new house designs is fangbian, and some villagers also use the term ziyou, or "freedom," to describe their experience of having more personal space. When pressed further about what they meant by fangbian and ziyou, several informants simply gave a metaphor: "You can sleep on the bed during the daytime without worrying about being seen or being gossiped about by anyone." To make themselves understood, some villagers also told me that the feeling of freedom was that "you can do whatever you want" [xiang gansha jiu gansha], Less frequently yet regarding a probably equally important notion, villagers maintained that they liked the new house designs because new spatial patterns of organization made one's home guiju, or "well organized," as well as youli youwai, literally meaning "having an inside and an outside." One of the first reformers of house design in Xiajia, for instance, told me that he had long dreamed of building a new house similar to an urban apartment, because urban dwellings distinguished between inside and outside—he specifically used the phrase youli youwai—and therefore they were fangbian, or convenient, to live in. Putting these pieces together, I am convinced that without resorting to the urban notion of yinsi, Xiajia villagers have begun to pursue and protect their privacy at both the family and individual levels. According to the legal-liberal approach in the West, privacy as a legal right plays an important role in fostering intimacy, equality, political freedom, and individual autonomy. As a social practice, privacy is crucial to individual development and the formation of diverse social relations. Autonomy and intimacy are at stake in one's life, and they are protected by the notion of privacy when personal matters are stripped of public significance and private space is shielded from public intrusion (see Boling 1996,19-31; Moore 1984; Warren and Laslett 1977).2 With regard to private space, Patricia Boling suggests, "We might expand on the spatial sense of private places, and think more metaphorically about the 'territories of the self' we all carry around with us" (1996, 27). Here we can see clearly the close links between Xiajia villagers' notions offangbian, ziyou, guiju, and youli youwai, on the one hand, and the scholarly discourse of privacy in the West, on the other hand. How can Xiajia villagers pursue the ideal of privacy in family life without comprehending the Western notion of privacy? The answer lies in the above-mentioned

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Yunxiang Yan

Fig. 16.12. These drawings siheyuan in various

represent

-iZStK

configurations,

from the simplest, with a single courtyard, to those with two, three, and four courtyards. Within each hall-courtyard complex, there is a hierarchical layering, with both "outer" and "inner" space. Source: Chiu 2000,142-143.

indigenous notions—that is, privacy as a social practice is itself not alien to Chinese culture. On the contrary, a certain degree of privacy has always been carefully protected for some people throughout Chinese history. Suffice it to note that the elite and the rich in Chinese society have always enjoyed some degree of privacy in family life. As far as spatial privacy is concerned, the houses of elite and well-to-do families all drew a clear line between the exteriority of the community and the inferiority of the home and between the outer and inner parts within the home, regardless of specific architectural styles or regional differences. Both the courtyard house, or siheyuan, in Beijing and the famous garden house in Suzhou, for instance, feature different kinds of physical barriers, such as a sequence of gates, screens, courtyards, and distance, to control the accessibility of the family to the outside world. Whether the siheyuan were relatively small or extensive, as seen in Figure 16.12, each embodied a kind of graduated privacy, in which an outer space was employed to accommodate public interactions while an interior keting was used to receive visitors and entertain friends (Knapp 2000, 3off). Female members in an elite family were generally confined within the inner half of the domestic space, and they played a key

Making Room for Intimacy

391

role in constructing the private end of the continuum of the family, community, and state, turning a multifunctional house into a private home (Bray 1997, 52-58, 91-150). Similarly, in pre-1949 Xiajia, landlords protected family privacy inside courtyard walls and closed gates and even had armed guards, thus providing examples of houses that werefangbian, guiju, and youli youwai. House remodeling in the 1980s and 1990s in Xiajia cannot be viewed as a simple replication of the traditional ideal. For one thing, in the past, privacy was the privilege of the elite and wealthy, far from the reach of the ordinary people, as exemplified by the contrast between the big compounds and small shacks in pre-1949 Xiajia village.3 Moreover, individual privacy in traditional Chinese culture existed in a hierarchical context—a person could enjoy privacy in relation to those who were ranked lower socially and economically, but not vice versa. This is because privacy was not a legal right but a flexible privilege, the boundary of which varied depending on one's social status in a situation-specific context. For instance, a landlord in a rural community could enter a poor tenant's home without any concern for the latter's privacy, but the opposite was unthinkable. However, when the landlord was facing more powerful local gentry or a magistrate in another context, his privilege of privacy would be reduced or would completely disappear, depending on the degree of the status differences between the two parties. This is like the operation of "social face" in everyday life: an actor normally knows how "big" the other party's face is.4 In an example mentioned above, the head of a production team in Xiajia village went directly to the bed of a sleeping couple and woke up the husband, and no one complained about the cadre's rude behavior. Through their efforts to create new house forms, Xiajia villagers actually revolutionized a cultural tradition, turning previously elitist spatial notions into an everyday necessity for ordinary people. Nowadays most families want to build or remodel their houses according to the latest floor plan and control access to their family privacy. Inside new houses, individual family members can have their personal space (or the "territories of the self") due to the new house designs with multiple bedrooms. The previous class/status-based social differentiations in spatial privacy in particular and in private life in general have disappeared. In addition, the previous hierarchy of spatial relations based on generational rank and gender has been undermined to the degree that villagers' efforts to remodel their houses represent a democratization of domestic space in a double sense. It should be noted that what occurred in Xiajia village is by no means unique. There are reports of similar house remodeling practices in other areas of Heilong-

392

Yunxiang Yan

jiang province, where the traditional kang culture used to prevail, and an increase of conjugal intimacy and privacy in other parts of the country.5 Throughout China, house remodeling and interior decorating have been hot consumer "ticket items" for years, and urban residents have taken the lead to redefine spatial relations at home (see Davis et al. 1995; Fraser 2000). Indeed, Xiajia villagers have been inspired by urbanites, and they imitate urban lifestyles in many respects, including overall house design, the use of domestic space, and changes in types and styles of furniture. More important, the mass media, television in particular, have brought villagers in touch with a wide range of contemporary values and ideals that have contributed to changing their mentality and behavior. One of the most important new values is the notion of ziyou, mentioned above, which is closely related to autonomy and intimacy—the core values that sustain the notion of privacy. It is not possible to understand the villagers' concern for individual space and autonomy without fully considering the influences of these new cultural values. From a historical perspective, most urban workers and farmers in France, the United States, and elsewhere in the world often lived in extremely crowded housing conditions. Until the turn of the twentieth century—and, it must be admitted, to some degree today in poorer, remote areas of even economically developed countries—rural homes consisted of a single room, used for both cooking and sleeping, to the degree that privacy and intimacy were nonexistent. In the United States, it was not until the late eighteenth century that people began to divide their homes into three functional areas: the kitchen, the dining and drawing room, and the bedroom. A separate living room that screened public interactions from the inner and private half of the family was a much later invention (see Braudel 1967; Rybczynski 1986). It was only during the first half of the twentieth century that American families began to enjoy a family room and a master bedroom with its own bathroom in their homes (see Pader 1993,118-120). Prost (1991, 51-67) calls improvements in French housing since the 1950s a true "revolution" in the history of private life. In her study of domestic space in Mexico, Ellen Pader (1993) examines both the family-oriented principles of domestic spatiality in Mexican houses and the recent changes that have resulted from remodeling, separating public interactions from the bedrooms and creating more personal space for individual use. The Xiajia case, therefore, is a reflection of the historical trend in the transformation of the private life sphere in general and domestic spatiality in particular. As I discuss in greater detail elsewhere (Yan 1997), by the early 1990s conjugal independ-

Making Room for Intimacy

393

ence h a d b e c o m e an accepted feature of f a m i l y i d e o l o g y f o r the m a j o r i t y of Xiajia residents, as it h a d increasingly b e c o m e f o r villagers a n d city dwellers t h r o u g h o u t C h i n a . In e v e r y d a y life the horizontal conjugal tie has replaced the vertical parentss o n relationship as the central axis of f a m i l y relations in both nuclear a n d stem households. T h i s m a r k s the t r i u m p h of conjugality o v e r patriarchy, a structural t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of f a m i l y relations. A l o n g with other i m p o r t a n t changes in private life, such as s p o u s e selection, sex a n d love, the s u p p o r t of the elderly, a n d the fertility culture (see Y a n 2003), the t r i u m p h of conjugality also indicates the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of the f a m i l y f r o m a disciplined corporate g r o u p to a private haven, w h e r e b y f a m i l y life revolves a r o u n d the h u s b a n d - w i f e u n i o n , a n d f a m i l y m e m b e r s have b e c o m e m o r e aware o f their individual rights. A s a result, the quest f o r conjugal space a n d p r i v a c y has b e c o m e a necessity in the e v e r y d a y life of o r d i n a r y villagers.

The ethnographic material used in this chapter was first published in my book, Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999

(2003),

and all rights to that ethnographic material are reserved by the publisher, Stanford University Press. 1. The issue of privacy has drawn the attention of both scholars and the mass media in China. In scholarly discourse, the protection of privacy is regarded as one of the core elements of private rights (see Liu 1996). The mass media mostly focus on legal cases of privacy violation, which reflects the rising awareness of privacy among urban residents. In the first lawsuits, which occurred in 1990, two urban residents sued a novelist for writing a story about their private lives; they won the cases and were awarded 180 yuan and 120 yuan respectively (Li 1999, 8). It is interesting that by the end of the 1990s, while more sensitive about their own privacy, urban residents seemed to gain a new interest in other people's private lives, which resulted in a hot market for privacy-exploration books. The following are a few of the bestsellers published in 1997-1998: Jueduiyinsi

[Absolute privacy], by An Dun;

Feichangyinsi

[Unusually private], by Zi Jun and Xue Mei; Danshen yinsi [The privacy of singles], by An Qi; Zhencao Yinsi [The privacy of chastity], by An Jing; and Zuier deyidianyuan

[The sinful

Eden], by Yang Bo. For a special report on the importance of privacy in urban life and its commercialization, see Xinzhoukan

[New weekly] 21 (1998): 13-25.

2. Feminist scholars criticize the efforts to take public significance out of the private sphere because then the unprivileged members—women and children—are put in a helpless situation. For a detailed review of this position, see Boling (1996, 4-19). 3. This is by no means a uniquely Chinese phenomenon. In France, for instance, "For the first half of the twentieth century private life was in most respects subject to communal controls. The wall that was supposed to protect individual privacy was a privilege of the bour-

Yunxiang

Yan

geoisie" (Prost 1991, 67). As Warren and Laslett note, "The use of privacy is most likely for those whose behavior is not suspect and who have financial and other resources sufficient to draw boundaries around their activities" (1977, 48). 4. The significance of "face" in Chinese society is widely known by now, so much so that the term has entered the English-speaking world. In general, scholars distinguish two kinds of face: social face, based on one's achievements and dignity, and moral face, based on a person's feelings of shame. The former works as a type of prestige and is subject to the evaluation of others, while the latter functions as a moral self-constraint. Social face is achieved and possessed by people in the upper classes, while ordinary people do not care much about their social face (see Hu 1944; King 1988). However, my case study of gift exchange in Xiajia village demonstrates that by the 1980s, ordinary villagers not only cared about social face, but also fought to gain it, an important development similar to their quest for privacy. For a detailed ethnographic account of the "face contest" in Xiajia and a review of scholarly discourse on the concept of face, see Yan (1996,133-138). 5. Wang and Zhang (1995) report a similar pattern of house remodeling in Changwu township, Zhaodong county, which is about two hundred kilometers from Xiajia village. They interpret the change as another positive result of the economic reforms and one more step toward the modernization of the family in rural China. See also Xu (1997) and Shen, Yang, and Li (1999) for quantitative findings of the increase of conjugal intimacy and privacy in different regions in the country.

Making Room for Intimacy

395

Glossary

ai x . Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort Ailian shuo S S I t S , The Love of Lotus, by the Song-dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi Jlffclig Analects by Confucius Anchang township ^ H i l l , Zhejiang Anhui a-p'o H l o bride's maternal grandmother a-p'o niouc (Hakka) KUl^l, pork distributed by the bride's family to the bride's maternal grandmother's natal family ba A , number eight; considered auspicious for its phonetic closeness to the word fa H , for "acquiring wealth" Ba Jin E i ? , author of Jia Bagua A $ h Eight Trigrams bagua qian AihfS> copper octagonal coins Bai Shen "One Hundred Gods" baihu E=l JyiE, white tiger; associated with the element metal baimu tfl^K, cypress Ban Gu iff @ (32-92), historian of the Han dynasty Bao jia wei guo f S ^ f l i B I , "To protect your home is to protect your country" Baolun Ge ^E^I'S], the Pavilion of Precious Encomiums Baoyu HIE, hero of The Dream of the Red Chamber baxian zhuo Ailll^> Eight Immortals table bazi A^PJ the "eight characters" signifying year, month, day, and hour of birth

beikang ittfi, "north bed"—that is, a kang along the north wall bi H> round, disclike sacrificial object fashioned from jade [bian] fu i i t g , homophonous with fu fjg, "blessings" or "good fortune" Bilugong i f r ^ f i , family ancestral hall bing frjc, "lumps of ice"; homophonous with bing JI;, or sentry duty by troops Bishu Shanzhuang i H f l l l ftt, Imperial Summer Villa at Rehe, modern Chengde bixie BiiP, "exorcising" object bonsai literally "tree in a pot" bubugao ^ ^ I S J , "rising at every step" buxiu --f^i imperishability buzhai divination of a house site caihuazhuan tiTttt, painted bricks Caishen God of Wealth cang lang iiT/jS, blue waves Canglang Tingyuan i J ^ J i S H , SurgingWave Pavilion Garden, the oldest surviving garden in Suzhou, Jiangsu Cangpo village ^SfiSfi, Gangtou township Yongjia county Zhejiang Cao H.K;, lineage and surname Cao Xueqin author of The Dream of the Red Chamber [ Hong lou meng MM: 9]

Caofang village # tt> Fujian chan ffl, meditation chair chang H, prosperous, flourishing Changchun She iS: the Studio of Everlasting Spring Changjiang River M i l

397

Changling H ® , the mausoleum of Yongle zkl^, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty changpucao Hffjiji, Acorus calamus, sweet flag Changwu i l l township, Zhaodong county il/K-il, Heilongjiang Changwuzhi H i ^ S , Treatise of Superfluous Things, by Wen Zhenheng (1585— 1645) chatiyi ipfsj, meditation chair chaoshan if] ill > "Worshiping Mountain," found to the south of an optimal fengshui site chaoting large open area with a courtyard for audiences with the ruler Chen K f i ; , surname and lineage Chen Ancestral Hall GSlRlsl, Guangzhou Chen Fuyao ^ f ^ i l s , a Qing scholar, author of Huajing T t i i [Flower mirror] Chen Yuanjing PStuSI Chengkan MLiX, Shexian county Anhui Chengqilou ^ B i i o Yongding county -/K"JE -&, Fujian Cheung Uk village, Sha Lo Tung rp'W ?|W|, Hong Kong Chifeng Municipal Museum 7jf:|ll|1i i^jIB chiling v , imperial edict China Institute HHImjfil-h Chu M, a regional state in central China during the Zhou dynasty (1045-221 B.C.) Chuandixia village ] [ I J f t T f i i Zhaitang township ^ i ^ f f t , Mentougou district Beijing chuandou sf-4-, post-and-tie-beam wooden structural framework Chuang Gong and Chuang Mu f ^ S , male and female Genii of the Bed chuanyi H t f , crestrail roundback chair Chuci if i i , Songs of Chu Chun Niu #4 1 > Spring Ox

398

Glossary

Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhengyi commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals" chuomu older term for queti Chuxiang wulun quanbei zhongxiao ,T, (fill im^if Tales of Surpassing Virtue and of Perfect Filiality Chuyue Xuan Sj ^ $ f , Hoe-Moon Lounge, in the Yi Yuan Garden falsi in Suzhou, Jiangsu cijiao ®J®P, splayed furniture legs citang fB]^, ancestral shrine citing fnlff, family ancestral hall cong ijf., cylindrical sacrificial object fashioned from jade Cuilinglong ' W / i l , Delicate Emerald Hall, in Canglangting Garden ¿Jtiilll, Suzhou, Jiangsu cun f i , village cunfa Mli., texture strokes used in painting Da sha "Vanquish the demons" Da wujianming tu ^ M f ^ ^ l U , Simplified Plan of the Big House da xi ge rhymed, "luck-bringing" verses Da Zhu Gui Spirit of the Pigpen Daguan Yuan ^ U S S , Grand View Garden, depicted in Hong lou meng daji i^J!^, rooster; homophonous with "greatly auspicious" ^ ej damuzuo major carpentry, such as the framework of buildings danguo to "go it alone"; sons or brothers living apart prior to formal family division Dangxiang or Tanguts 'yjipi, Xixia dynasty EX Dao de jing iHiSiiffi The Way and Its Power, by Laozi daojing ISJil, "inverting mirror"; also called tiger or white tiger mirror [hujing f^EIS and baihujing g ^ E f l ]

Dazongci ^ ^ b ] , Great Focal Ancestral Hall de virtue Deyuantang ancestral hall of the Zhang "jitiS; lineage, Taxia f ^ T village, Fujian di wen Jft^t, literally "earthly patterns" Diaoyuan i^i!?., Jiangxi dili iHlil, "earth truth," "earthly patterns," "land pattern"; used today for the discipline of geography ding (Cantonese) t j , paper lantern; homophonous in Cantonese with the word for sons, ding T Dingyao Sanduo Jiuru pian IH^i^L £nH, "May you garner the 'Three Abundances' and the 'Nine Analogs'" Dingcun village T i i > Shanxi Dongguan Guangdong Dongping iR^F, Shandong Dongshan Lake Tai, Jiangsu Dongshanci focal ancestral hall, Shiqiao village, Fujian dongtu gfj -h, groundbreaking dongwu ^ M , east room Dongyue Dadi Emperor of the Eastern Peak dongzhi winter solstice dougong -4-itt, modular bracket systems Du Mu Tang poet duan knee wrapper Duanwu i ® ^ or Duanyang iSiffi, the fifth day of the fifth month Dui wo sheng cai X i S i f e M , "Bring riches to me" Dunben Tang Hall for Respecting the Root [of the lineage], in Tangyue village, Shexian Anhui Dunhuang fj(ijt> Gansu duo/shao quantity, denoted as more/ less duo zi many sons; embodied as a

Glossary

rebus by the many-seeded pomegranate, which is commonly called duozi duozi many-seeded pomegranate; homophonous with duo zi "many sons" Emei Mountain llt&gll], Sichuan Emperor Han Lingdi iHJl^Sf (r. 168-189) Emperor Ming Xuanzong HflSâ? (r. 14261436) Emperor Qing Xuanzong fltjÈSH [Daoguang emperor] (r. 1820-1850) Emperor Song Huizong Wi/fri (r. 1101-1125) Emperor Xiawen Northern Wei dynasty (471-499) Emperor Yandi l i ? ^ [legendary "Fiery emperor"] Empress Xiaoduan, née Wang ^-îmSLR, Ennin or H t , Tang dynasty monk Epang Palace I S J J f i q K , grand palace of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty Facai huanjia S W S i ? . Wealth Returns Home Family [Jia], novel by Ba Jin fang J f , room; also the conjugal unit, referring to a married couple fang &Ç, landboat fang mu (jie)gou fÏT-f^Èt^], architectural details that imitate a timber (structural) skeleton Fang Wentai House 77 fangbian 'H fM, convenience fangchan ¡fjfM, fang property, including the husband-wife's room and its furnishings Fangwei Zong iiiiL'ffi or Liqi Zong il7 ixk, Compass School or Analytical School of fengshui Fei Xiaotung fi^f-M, anthropologist and sociologist fen jia family division

399

Fengshan m,|i|, Taiwan fengshui JS.7K, geomancy fengshui ta fengshui pagoda fengshui xiansheng PUKt^:^, "interpreter of wind and water," or geomancer Fogong Si Temple Yingxian, Shanxi Foshan f#|i|, Guangdong fu Is, good fortune, blessings Fu iS, "Return (the Turning Point)" hexagram, in which a single unbroken (yang) line appears at the bottom fu/gui a/Hi;, wealth, denoted as riches fu lu shou jU^i^f, wealth, official position, and longevity Fubai Xuan '/#E=l$f> Studio of Frothy White Fujian fgj|t fumu x t f , "father and mother"; the emperor's relationship to the people, who are the minzi H i , "people children" Furong village Nanxijiang ffiMlE, Zhejiang Fuwah Hotel g i f ^ S J g , Weifang Shandong Gansu, gao/di H / ® , height; denoted as high/low Gao Lian ftilS, author of Yuzan ji j E l f g E [Tales of the jade hairpin] Gao Lian ¡tj?|§ and Li Yu z^ffi, authors of Xianqing ouji WIWfflSB [Occasional records of leisurely sentiments] (1617) Gao Ming if?j HJ], author of Pipa ji U S 12 [Tales of the lute] ge two-story pavilion Ge Yuan ^MSI, Yangzhou |, Jiangsu gong It, merit gong cheng fe'lsSJ, palace-city Gongbu gongcheng zuofa celi TnPT.f±fF?i flij^ij, Engineering Manual of the Board of Works gongji '¿;JSI, crimson rooster, a propitious yang creature

400

Glossary

gongting 'a I f , home of the emperor, or "palace with a courtyard" Gouliu possibly God of the Latrine Gu Cheng Yan "¿TitS, Wan'an village t i , Xiuning county Anhui gu mitiju l^fj^ljif, old dwellings Gu Mu Jiao Ke ifTfcXf 5 !, Intertwined Ancient Tree, in Liu Yuan Garden §? H, Suzhou, Jiangsu guan I t , guest house Guan cheng chun man 'a'M Pi i f , NineNines chart Guan Gong j c f i , Lord Guan, respected man of the Three Kingdoms period (220-265) Guan Yu ¡H>0, also Guan Gong Guandi I f l ^ , God of War Guang han xiang d i ^ l f , The Cold Fragrance Diffused; published in the Kangxi U|H3 period (1662-1722) Guangdong f i f i Guangxu emperor /t^g (r. 1875-1908) Guanlu village ^ M l i , Yixian county ff-H, Anhui guanmaoyi K H f s f i yokeback chair Guanyin bodhisattva gui f±, cassia leaf; homophonous with m "honorable" and "of high rank," as well as symbolizing success in the civil service examinations gui Pi, women's apartments guiju well organized; a term to describe new spatial patterns of organization in a home Guizhou jq'J'H Guo Xi famous artist of the Song dynasty guojia country; defined by a compound of two words: country and family Ha Tsuen M f i , Tai Po ^ i f i , Hong Kong Hainan jillii Hakka also called Kejia

Han Xizai ye yan tu W^Mi^l^i,

The

Night Revels of Han Xizai, attributed to Gu Hongzhong S I H ^

Jingde

brave general of the

Tang period; together with Qin Shubao i f i K a L he serves as a Door God

Hangzhou fjvJ'H

hua lun Itfti, theories of painting

Hanmei tu yu iSfijthT., The Wintry Plum

Huafeng Zhai S f f i l f i Painted Pleasure

Spits Jade (White Blossoms) hao shi huai shi (Hakka: ho-se fai-se) if

, good and bad events—weddings,

funerals, religious celebrations, etc.

Boathouse Huairou county 'ff^-1-, Beijing zltJjC Huaiyuanlou 'ffoS^, Nanjing county i^fiff •H, Fujian Huajing tbia, Flower Mirror, by Chen

He fnj, surname and lineage He chuan zhi tu c f f i ^ E S , Diagram of the

Fuyao K f ^ i g , a Qing scholar Huan Cui Tang Yuan Jing Tu WW'sLMm

collective stove He He fU a , boys of Union and Harmony

H, Garden Scenes of the Encircled

Hebei

Emerald Hall

ffit

heihu MlM, "black tiger" amulet Heilongjiang S^gfll

Huang Yingtai iptl'jj^i, the first owner of Ge Yuan ^MHl, garden in Yangzhou

Henan ¡;5J[^

Huangcun Hcti, Shexian county iftlfi,

Hengzhi Qingfen i8f ±£ Tit

hall in the

Daguan Yuan ^clgH, residential garden in Beijing

Huizhou M'J'I'I) Anhui Huanghe Lou

Yellow Crane Tower,

Wuchang (modern Wuhan, Hubei)

hetaomu fZM':^, walnut wood Hetu Mffl. Yellow River Chart hezhe di bu da zuo chuangji yi zhuo tallF i f e ^ f T i T O / l ^ * , "couches, stands, chairs, and tables, all fittingly installed"

huanghuali fftEJSi, yellow flower pear wood Huangshan municipality J f lilTU, Anhui Huayang i^ffi village, Jixi county tm;SI-&, Anhui

Ho, Ivan Chi Ching

huayuan TEH, flower garden

Hokkien [5] Iff

Hubei ffllt

Hong lou meng jsLWM-, known in English

huchuang

as The Dream of the Red Chamber and The Story of the Stone hong shi

red bamboo sieve

Hongcun village iSfct, Yixian county IIH-, Anhui

Hui [Hui nationality] culture [u]5S3Cfk Hui [Huizhou] culture W W X i t hui liu cheng jian ilfE/iS

"converging

streams like a pure mirror"

Hongkeng village §I±/ti j , Hukeng township SSi/C^, Yongding county 7KaE-!-, Fujian Houhai area

folding stool with matting;

the prototype of later chairs

Beijing

Houwang village, Pinglu county -T ; liill, Shanxi

Huizhou M'J'H> southern Anhui Huizhou Mingdai zhuzhai

Mj'H^f^ii^»

Ming Dynasty Houses of Huizhou Hunan SUM huokang -Jifji, heated brick bed; also called

Hsu, Francis L.K. VF;®^

simply kang

Hu SEJ^, surname and lineage

Hushen Pttf1, God of the Family

Hu Jingde

hutong SEIH, old residential lanes in Beijing

alternate name for Yuchi

Gong li/^^S (also known as Yuchi

Glossary

and other northern cities

401

Imperial City

[Zijin Cheng]

Ji chen dao

!, "The auspicious time

has come!" H ? P [Manual of garden design] house, home, family

jing JR, "forms embodied in scenery 'projecting' out of visual images" Jingchai ji ffijiXtfi. Tales of the Thorn Hair-

jiachati 'W.M-, family property jiaci 'w'-f^l, family ancestral hall

pin, collected by the Yuan author Ke Danqiu M A - f t

Jiajing Mim period (1522-1566)

Jingquan Tongzi

-p> Lad of the Well

jiaju W.M, "implements of the house"

Jinjiang county

Fujian

jian |ii], building module; distance between

jinjishen J ^ A s t u t e l a r y gods of the house

columns

jinshi H i t , metropolitan degree, highest

Jiang Taigongzai ci If A

i t lit, "Jiang

Taigong is here" Jiang Ziya

Zhou-period minister,

Jiang Ziya zai ci If -p i ? lit ltt, "Jiang Ziya is here"; variant form for Jiang Taigong zai ci

degree, "Presented Scholar" Jiu Ru fiiU, Nine Analogs

also known as Jiang Taigong

"Jiang Taigong is here"

Jiangnan tElii, lower Yangzi River area

jiujiu JhJi,

Nine-Nines

Jiujiu tu f i f i B , Nine-Nines chart Jiujiu xiaohan shitu hti

iPi^i^M,

"Nine

Nines Disperse the Cold" poetry charts Jiujiu xiaohan tu 'JiJuH^M,

"Nine-Nines

Disperse the Cold" pictures (or charts)

Jiangsu

Jiujiu zhi ge tifiiiWi,

Jiangxi r l g f

Jiuyang xiaohan tu A-^f-i^lSliS], "Nine

Jiangzhuangzhen H l ± f E , Shandong jiaoyi

horseshoe and yokeback arm-

chair "active objects in the house"

jiatang f^igS generic household gods jiating

"Nine-Nines song"

Yang Disperse the Cold" picture Jiuzhou A'J'N, Nine Provinces, a poetic name for China

jiasheng

the domicile of a family;

Jixi county im'M-Mr, Anhui jujia

"home living"; activities that

take place at home

literally "domestic household with a

Julu county H.Sb#, Hebei

courtyard"

jumu HM-m southern elm wood

jiaxun

"household instructions"

jiayuan 5j-"fH|, home-garden jiazhang W.M, family head

jun/chen

ideal relationships; denoted

as ruler/ruled and father/son X / i Jurchen k f i of the Jin # dynasty

jichimu /CjJItK, chicken-wing wood

Kai Tai tu

Jiefangyingzi MjjjiMi-f-, Inner Mongolia

Kaifeng Jf

jieshen zhuo l i r f f ^ , "contacting gods

kaijizu Jfit-ffl., focal ancestor, the ancestor

table"

Kai Tai picture Henan

who established the base of a lineage

Jiezi Yuan ff^FH> Mustard Seed Garden

Kam Tin

Jilin

Kan Ting Study Hall S O i A S , Hong Kong

Jin H dynasty (265-420) Jin Mao Tower Jin ping mei ^JfStS,

402

man with a jinshi degree Jinan ifrlfl, Shandong

Ji Cheng | f J^ (1582-?), author of Yuan ye jia

Jin Shi Di ] # ± ! b , shrine or residence of a

Glossary

AIM, Shanghai The Golden Lotus

Hong Kong

kan ximei (Hakka: kon semoi) "seeing the girl" kang f.ri, heated brick bed

flf§0®,

kangji fctJL, small, low tables used on a kang Kang Youwei philosopher and reform leader (1858-1927) kangtou jji^k, "bed head"; the portion of a kang closest to the stove Kangxi {JfSG, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty (1654-1722) kanyu MM, alternative name for fengshui: "cover and support" and "canopy of heaven and the chariot of earth" Kaogongji The Artificer's Record Kaohsiung [Gaoxiong] ¡15 H , Taiwan Kejia also called Hakka kesi MM, silk tapestry keting ^ l y (or simply ting f f ) . literally "guest lounge," "lounge," "hall," but today translated as "living room" and "guest hall" Khitans f j of the Liao jj? dynasty kin ngoe-tsou (Hakka) Si^l-fti, "to honor the matrilateral ancestors" kuaizi i l ^ f , chopsticks; the sound has a punning relationship with "sons coming quickly," kuai zi Kun "The Receptive" hexagram; composed solely of broken, yin lines Kunlun Mountain M'felil kunmen f E f ] , carved or open cusps kuzi W-^F, men's trousers; in some southern dialects, the sound is close to that of the auspicious Chinese character fu g , "riches" Kwong Tai Company la gamen (Hakka) if Mill, the inspection visit of the bride's family to the groom's home latiban ffilffi, apron, balustrade lang )Ij!, covered pathway Langzhong city iRJ^ftJ, Sichuan Lantian county SSffl-ll, Shaanxi Lanxi city ^ M r t i , Zhejiang

Glossary

Laowu Ge Huizhou Wt'lM, Anhui; earliest Ming period private residence still standing layue M J-| > twelfth month Li surname and lineage Li Gongnian ^ ' J x ^ (fl. ca. 1120), Northern Song painter Li ji Book of Rites Li Liweng (1611-1680), author of Xianqing ouji Pi'lWfflW [A temporary lodge for my leisure thoughts] liatt continuous; homophonous with lian Si, "lotus" liatt H , lotus; homophonous with lian HI, "continuous" Lian shenggui zi yi ruyi S^Miii-SP®, "May noble sons be born to you continuously, and may all be as you wish!" liangzhu third building of an ancestral hall, where the ancestral tablets are kept Shanhaijing iLlMH, Classic of the Mountains and Seas Shanxi |i|g§ Shawan fPfM, Panyu #tSi. Guangdong

Shen Fu jjfcfJ (1763-?), author of Fusheng liuji

A S S [Six chapters of a floating

life]

Shrine of the Virtuously Tranquil Luo Dongshu iHSf

see Baolun

Ge

Shen Tu

with his brother Yu Lei and in full martial regalia, he is a

Door God sheng

shuangxi I I H , happiness in marriage shufu

comfortable

shuiguandao 7 X ^ 5 ! , drainage pipes

give birth; homophonous with

sheng aE, a musical instrument

"mouth of water," where a stream exits

sheng S=E, a musical instrument; homophonous with sheng

shuikou 7jcP. water inlet; literally the

"give birth"

Shengmudian S i t t f i z , Hall of the Holy Mother, Jinci Temple H|s|, Taiyuan ±IM shengqi i f e ^ , life force or cosmic energy Shengxian It^-i,-, Zhejiang

from a settlement Shuitou township 7.K^k^, Cangnan county U S l - i r , Zhejiang Shujing

Book of Documents

shunxin IIIM'Ls satisfaction, happiness Shuowen jiezi SS3tf5f

Han dynasty

dictionary

shenlong anzhuo W y f e t ? ^ , altar table

shuyuan

shenzhu

si shen E3f$, four deities or four spiritual

spirit tablet

Sheung Wo Hang _h^±/[> New Territories

animals si shou G i l l , four deities or four spiritual

$ T # > Hong Kong

animals

Shexian Jtfc-IU Anhui shi

academies

substantive or real, in contrast with

Sichuan HJI| sichutouguanmaoyi

xu Shi gandang 5SSI'M, "This stone dares to

H f c B I I ' l l ' t i f t , "lamp-

hanger"-style yokeback armchair Si'ersi Ta H ^ S f ig, Sears Tower, Chicago

resist" shi qing hua yi S i ' l l H i R , literally "poetic sentiments and artistic conceptions" Shi Tao 5 i

(Dao Ji or Tao-chi) (1641-

ca. 1717), Qing dynasty painter

dwelling

S3, Compendium of a

courtyard dwellings,

especially those found in northern China Siku quanshu E U l i ^ l l , Comprehensive

Forest of Affairs Shinzoku kibun "/ifi-SIBM, Qing Customs Shiqiao village E f f F f i , Nanjing county

Library of the Four Treasuries Sili Jian b I H I S , Directorate of Ceremonial Rites

l^iS-i-, Fujian Shitou township

property

siheyuan IZSn"

Book of Songs

Shilin guangji

room money," or a wife's private sihelou E b I i two-story courtyard-style

shidiao 5 l t > stone carvings Shijing

sifangqian (Hakka: segoi) f i j f i i , "private

Nanhai county

Sima Guang

(1019-1086), historian

and statesman during the Song dynasty

Guangdong shou j=f, longevity, long life

Sin Tian |)fE3 village, Hong Kong

shou W„ head of a wild animal

Songyue Si Temple fti-is Tf > Henan State Administration of Cultural Heritage

shou tao Hf-ft, Peach of Longevity r

Shoucun t i f r f , Xiuning county f^T -&> Anhui

Glossary

^ifsAs^iPH Student Zhang

mmx®m

407

su {•§•, vulgarity Suzhou H'J'H ta tfl, low platform for sitting or reclining Tai sg, hexagram with three yang |i§, unbroken lines; called the "Peace" hexagram Taibei • J t , also Taipei Taigongzai ci "Taigong is here" Taihemen icffl ['1, Forbidden City, Beijing taiji ^cfR, symbol representing the duality of yin and yang tailiang Jztji, post-and-beam wooden structural framework Taipei [Taibei] £ j t Taipei 101 fijt 101, world's fifth tallest building Taishan shi gandang "This stone dares to resist" Taishan zai ci :MliltElti, "Taishan is here" taishi timber "teacher" or northern wall Taiwan '•'¡H Taiwan Railroad Administration p? enclosing space Wei

(475-221 B.C.)

dynasty (220-265)

wen writing or words [wenzi Wen lineage and surname Wen Zhengming EÇ^ (1470-1559), Ming dynasty painter Wen Zhenheng ~5cM1f (1585-1645), author of Zhangwuji Jtf^tE! [Treatise on superfluous things] wenhua baohu qu X f t i S i P E , protected cultural districts Wenyuan Ge imperial library hall, Beijing World Hakka Association UW-'&'mMIS' wu g , house or house complex W u Daozi H M J-, painter (fl. 710-760) W u Fu Yimen Hlg—F 6 ], "Five Blessings [within] One Gate" Wu jun wu fu i i f j f l .Si, "Going against your father and your ruler" Wu, Nelson W u Yue 21-f?r, Five Sacred Peaks, powerful places in Daoist geography W u Zhen reclusive Yuan dynasty painter (1285-1354)

wudu E S , five noxious or poisonous creatures Wufeng village Ulllifi, Shishan township i ^ l U ^ , Nan'an M ^ f l ï , Fujian Wuqiang ÏÉÇ'JS, Hebei wushi tongtang jEH:|n]1S> five generations under one roof Wutaishan EcJI-Ll, Shanxi Wuxing E f j , the Five Agents or Five Phases—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water

409

Wuyuan county WM-M?, Jiangxi Wuzhuyouju t a t W l K ) the Secluded Pavilion amid Wutong and Bamboo, in Zhuozheng Garden tdUBcH. Suzhou, Jiangsu Xiajia village T W f i , Heilongjiang Xiamen city MiTrf?, Fujian xiatig f i , image Xiang gattsha jiu gatisha il.T^it-pftii, "You can do whatever you want" xiangchong •ffli't5, mutually antagonistic situations xiangfang JffiJf, side chambers Xiangxi village ipjjSfcf, Shenzhen Guangdong Xianqing ouji fSSr, A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts, by Li Liweng m&Wi xiao filial piety Xiao han tu i^lSH, "Dispersing the Cold" chart Xiao Hong MS., novelist (1911-1942) xiao kang zhijia /J ••M'^W-., contemporary well-off family Xiaocanglang Ting Little Canglang Pavilion, in Zhuozheng Garden f® ¡SHI, Suzhou, Jiangsu Xiaohan shu jiu tu i f i ^ f l A i B , "Dispersing the Cold [by] Counting the Nines" image Xiaohan yi qi ge ^ ^ S m . l R , "Song of Dispersing the Cold and Increasing Qi" xiaomuzuo / J ^ f F , minor carpentry, including lattice work of windows, doors, and partitions xiaopinweti 'J < ¿n X , essays by scholargardeners Xiaoqi village HjS>fijt"t, Wuyuan county WM -1-, Jiangxi xiating T J T , entrance hall Xiaxiaoqi village THS/ffii-t, Wuyuan county WM-&, Jiangxi Xidi village ffiiifi, Yixian 1.1-1-, Anhui

410

Glossary

xie fit, waterside pavilion xin fjf, new; found upside down on a chart xinfang i§> new room, as well as a newly married couple Xingfengpeitian S(l$155R, "The terrestrial configurations are in agreement with the celestial order" Xingshi Zong Configurations School, also called Forms School, of fengshui Xinjiang frifi xinshi shiju zhi tu new-style poetry-line charts (or configurations) Xinxing village l/fr^ti, Zhanghua county ti-it-It, Taiwan Xinyang county fg FM-H-. Henan Xinyou village, Longnan county JfcffiM:, Jiangxi Xinzhoukan ffJUfO, New Weekly xitai opera stage xiu jiu rujiu flf |0$n|0, "repairing old like old" Xiuning county -1-, Anhui xiwu HM, west room Xixiangji EJfiiB, The Story of the Western Wing, a Yuan dynasty collection Xixinan village EMpHii, Huizhou iiftl, Anhui xu ift, unsubstantial and empty, in contrast with shi Xu Yuan B^H, Warm Garden, Nanjing xuan lounge xuanwu black snake and tortoise, representing the element water xumizuo ^ t S U i , religious stone pedestal ya f t , elegance yamen fpjfl, the traditional office/residence of an official yan "g, words or discourses, according to the Zuo zhuan ¿EfH Yanchun i £ # , Shaanxi Yandangshan Hk§|JL|, mountain, Zhejiang

yang PB, male principle

Yijing 1 B o o k of Changes

Yangjiabu

yin

Shandong

female principle

Yangliuqing ffiWn, Tianjin

yin-yang

Yangmansa

Yin-yang bianhe xiaochang

Hebei

yangqi |5§li„ male vapor; associated with the winter solstice and the official New yangsheng buzi U r i t i f i y a n g - p r o d u c i n g

I'tMi^ialPi

transformations of yin and yang Yin-Yang Fish

Yin Yu Tang pSfiiiS, restored Huizhou dwelling at Peabody Essex Museum

badges yangsheng

tu

S B , diagram of the waxing and waning Yin-yang yu

Year

mian Piili&fi, yang-producing

yingbi tilt,

also zhaobi P I M . protective

screens

textiles yangzhai

Pfl |!0, complementary opposites

P R ^ , dwelling for the living

12th century Song

Yingzao fashi

dynasty imperial building manual

Yangzhou il'J'H, Jiangsu Yanliao village J ^ l ^ i i , Meinong township

Yingzhou village ifiiftlfa, Jixi county M'M •H, Anhui

S l i H H . Taiwan Yanlong village s ^ f e t i , Nanxijiang t S M l E

yinsi P t l t r e n d y term for privacy yinzhai

area, Zhejiang yanlou ¡ ^ i i , tobacco houses yantao de difang, yige fating ji gongfeng zuxian dejinian

fflngH.Sffi^'K—

P ^ ^ , an abode for the dead

yituo sanya — ® H 5 F , "one leg, three spandrels" Yixian county

Anhui

Yongding county tK/E-It, Fujian { I t ^ ^ g ^ g ^ i g ^ : ^ , a conference room,

Yonghe Palace H f D ' a > Beijing

a court of judgment, and a miniature

Yongjia county 7KH H , Zhejiang

ancestral hall

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439

Contributors

Nancy Berliner is Curator of Chinese Art at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), Salem, Mass., where she has played a central role in the acquisition, movement, re-erection, preservation, and interpretation of Yin Yu Tang, a Qing dynasty house, as part of PEM's commitment to Asian art and architecture. Her publications include Yin Yu Tang: The Lives of a Chinese House (2003); editor of Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and lyth Centuries (1996); Friends of the House: Furniture from China's Towns and Villages, with Sarah Handler (1996); and Chinese Folk Art: The Small Skills of Carving Insects (1986). Maggie Bickford is Professor and Chair of the Department of the History of Art and Architecture and Professor of East Asian Studies at Brown University. Her books include Ink Plum: The Making of a Chinese Scholar-Painting Genre (1996), which won the Association for Asian Studies Levenson Book Prize (China before the twentieth century), and Bones of]ade, Soul of Ice: The Flowering Plum in Chinese Art (1985). Recently, her research has focused on imperial Song initiatives in painting; the first phase of the research appeared as "Emperor Huizong and the Aesthetic of Agency" in Archives of Asian Art (2002-2003). She is working on two book manuscripts: "The Shape of Good Fortune: Auspicious Visuality in China" and "Zhao Mengjian, Qian Xuan, and the Late Song Literati Avant-Garde." Francesca Bray is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has written on the history of agriculture, science, technology, and medicine in China, including Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China (1997); The Rice Economies: Technology and Development in Asian Societies (1986); and Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 2: Agriculture (1984). Projects in the pipeline include "The Technics of the Modern American Home" and "Stuff Studies: A Reader." Myron L. Cohen is Professor of Anthropology and affiliated with the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. Among his books are House United, House Divided: The Chinese Family in Taiwan (1976) and Kinship, Contract, Community and State: Anthropological Perspectives on China (2004), and he is the editor of Asia Case Studies in the Social Sciences: A Guide for Teaching (1992). He has done fieldwork in southern Taiwan and in the Hebei, Shanghai county, and Sichuan regions of China. His current research interests include social and cultural change in China and Taiwan; Chinese family organization, religion, and economic culture; and the historical anthropology of late imperial China. David Faure is University Lecturer in Modern Chinese History and Fellow, St Antony's College, at the University of Oxford. He has published The Structure of Chinese Rural Society:

441

Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories of Hong Kong (1986); Down to Earth: The Territorial Bond in South China, co-edited with Helen Siu (1995); Town and Country in China: Identity and Perception, co-edited with Tao Tao Liu (2001); A Documentary History of Hong Kong: Society (1997); and A Documentary History of Hong Kong: Economy, co-edited with Puitak Lee (2004). His most recent book is Colonialism and the Hong Kong Mentality (2003). James Flath graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2000 and is now Assistant Professor in History at the University of Western Ontario. He has published The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art and History in Rural North China (2004), using the popular print form of New Year's pictures (nianhua) to explore the culture of rural China. In addition to ongoing research on popular print, his current interests include the historical development and uses of Chinese monuments and museums. Wen Fong is Emeritus Professor at Princeton University, where he taught Chinese art history from 1954 to 1999. Concurrently, he served for nearly thirty years as a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, retiring in 2000 as its first Consultative Chairman of the Department of Asian Art. Among his books are Between Two Cultures: Late-Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Chinese Paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2001); The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection, co-edited with Robert E. Harrist (1999); Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, with James Watt (1996); and Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th-i4th Century (1992). Puay-pengHo is Professor of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was trained and worked as an architect for a number of years and received his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, working on Tang dynasty Buddhist architecture. His books include Temples of the Empress of Heaven, with Joseph Bosco (1999); In the Footsteps of the Buddha, with Rajeshwari Ghose (1999); Living Heritage: Vernacular Environment in China, co-edited with Kai-Yin Lo (1999); and a CD ROM set, The Tianhou Temple Ritual and Architecture, with Joseph Bosco (2001). His current research focuses on Chinese vernacular culture and architecture, Chinese Buddhist architecture, and folk religion and architecture. Nancy Jervis is an anthropologist and Vice President of China Institute in New York City. Her study of a village in Henan spans three decades. Dr. Jervis was a co-organizer of the House Home Family: Living and Being Chinese symposium, on which this volume is based. Ronald G. Knapp is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he taught from 1968 to 2001. Among his books are Chinese Houses, with photographs by A. Chester Ong (2005); China's Old Dwellings (2000); China's Walled Cities (2000); and China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation (1999); he is the editor of Asia's Old Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change (2003). China's Traditional Rural Architecture: A Cultural Geography of the Common House (1986) was the first book in English on the subject.

442

Contributors

Cary Y. Liu is Curator of Asian Art at the Princeton University Art Museum. A licensed architect and specialist in Chinese art and architectural history, he has publications on architecture and architectural aesthetics, including contributions to T'oungPao

(1992),

The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection (1999), Arfs of the Sung and Yiian: Ritual, Ethnicity, and Style in Painting (1999), Oriental Art (2000), and Hong Kong University Museum Journal (2002). He is currently directing the research project and exhibition, "Recarving China's Past: The Art, Archeology, and Architecture of the 'Wu Family Shrines,'" which focuses on a reevaluation of Han dynasty funerary architecture. Kai-Yin Lo, an independent scholar and designer living in Hong Kong, is a collector of Chinese furniture, Song dynasty white ceramics, and the decorative arts. She organized the landmark exhibition on modern Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong at the British Museum (1992) and a retrospective of twentieth-century Chinese painting (1995-1997), and she guest curated "Living Heritage: Vernacular Environment in China" at the China Institute, New York (2001). She has edited Classical and Vernacular Furniture in the Living

Environment

(1998); Bright as Silver, White as Snow: Chinese White Ceramics from Late Tang to Song (1998); and Living Heritage: Vernacular Environment in China, co-edited with Puay-peng Ho (1999). Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt is Professor of East Asian Art at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of Chinese Art at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She received her Ph.D. in Fine Arts at Harvard in 1981. Steinhardt is author of Chinese Traditional Architecture (1984); Chinese Imperial City Planning (1990); and Liao Architecture (1997); editor of Chinese Architecture (2002); and co-editor with Victor H. Mair and Paul R. Goldin of Hawaii Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture (2005). She has written more than fifty scholarly articles on the subjects of East Asian art, architecture, and city planning. Joseph Chuo Wang was educated on three continents and is now Professor of Architecture at Virginia Tech. A native of Suzhou, he has traveled extensively in China and writes about its architecture, gardens, people, and places. His publications include The Chinese Garden (1998); Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (1993); and articles in professional books and journals. Yunxiang Yan is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village (1996) and Private Life under Socialism: Love, Intimacy, and Family Change in a Chinese Village, 1949-1999 (2003). His current research interests include urban consumerism and the impact of cultural globalization on Chinese society.

Contributors

443

Index

References to illustrations are in boldface.

Azevedo, Jerry, xix, 1 1 1 , 1 1 2

Aesthetics, 73. See also Architectural

Ba Jin (author of Jia [The family], 1905-),

aesthetics Alcove bed, 193-195,194,262, 269-270, 270, 277

13, 224 Bagua, See Eight Trigrams Bai minority nationality, 28

Almanacs, 115,118,122-124

Baker, Hugh, 114, 300,376

Altar table (Shenlong anzhuo), 182,182,184

Baolun Ge (Pavilion of Precious

Ames, Roger, 228 Amulets: defensive charms, 1 1 6 - 1 1 8 , 1 1 7 , 1 1 8 , 124-131; 1 2 6 , 1 2 7 , 1 2 8 , 1 2 9 , 1 3 0 , 1 3 1 - 1 3 3 ,

Encomiums), 192,305-306,305,316 Bard, Emile, 66 Bathrooms, 7, 384-385, 384

134; neutralizing charms, 117,118; for

Bats, as symbols of good fortune, 135

summoning good fortune, 113-114,114,

Baxian zhuo (Eight Immortals table),

125,135,137; use by carpenters and bricklayers, 116-118,117 Ancestor worship, 301-302. See Rituals Ancestral halls and offerings, 18, 228, 229, 232, 248, 261, 262-263, 263, 285, 295-309,

182-184,183,184,187 Bays (jian), divisions of structural space, 4 4 - 4 7 . 4 4 - 4 6 , 73, 314 Bazi (the "eight characters" signifying year, month, day, and hour of birth), 246

301,303,304,305,307,308,309,311,312,

Bedrooms, 194,384-391

313.315.3i6,317,318,319» 3 2 1 , 3 4 4

Beds, 7,194. See also Alcove bed and

Ancestral prints, 341-344,342,343 Anhui: amulets, 127; ancestral halls, 305, 305, 308,309, 315,316,316,318-319.3i8; furni-

Platform bed Beijing: courtyard houses, 2 9 , 3 2 , 4 2 , 4 8 , 4 9 , 60, 6 1 , 7 0 , 7 1 , 1 4 1 , 1 4 2 , 1 5 7 , 3 9 1 ; family

ture, 1 6 6 , 1 6 7 , 1 7 6 , 1 8 5 , 1 9 0 , 1 9 1 , 1 9 2 ;

organization, 256-257; Forbidden City,

gates, 207; historic preservation issues,

xiv, 1 7 , 1 8 , 1 8 1 ; new-style housing, 50,157;

205-220; houses, x, 54,55, 62; lattice, 190,

paper prints, 340; Wenyuan Ge, 144

191, 207, 208; Ming period houses,

Berliner, Nancy, 9

39-40, 4 1 , 5 4 , 1 6 6 , 1 6 7 , 2 1 1 , 2 1 3 , 214,215,

Bird, Isabella, 67-68, 68

216; new-style housing, 208; villages,

Bishu Shanzhuang (Imperial Summer Villa),

206; Yuan period houses, 33

147.147

Animals, symbolism of, 124-129,131

Boling, Patricia, 390

ArchiCulture, 2, 9

Bonsai (literally "tree in a pot"), 74

Architectural aesthetics, 139-159

Book of Change (Yijing), 146-148

Auspicious measurements, 114-116,116

Book of Documents (Shijing), 99

Auspicious symbols, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 1 1 4 , 1 2 5 , 1 2 7 ,

Book of Rites (Liji), 259-260

137

Book of Songs (Shujing), 99,354 445

Bourdieu, Pierre, xi, xvi Boyd, Andrew, 2-3, 41 Bray, Francesca, 226-227, 228, 375

Daguan Yuan (Grand View Garden, also called Prospect Garden), 76, 8 9 , 1 4 3 , 1 4 2 Daojing ("inverting mirror," also called tiger

Buddhism, xii, 172-173,175, 268, 269, 274,331

or white tiger mirror [hujing and baihu-

Building magic and sorcery, 116-118

jing])> 124

Buxiu (imperishability), 142-143,158

Day, Clarence, 135, 332,347

Buzhai (divination of a house site), 101.

Dazongci (Great Focal Ancestral Hall), 307

See also Fengshui

De Groot, J. J. M „ 103,137, 337,339,340 Dingcun, Shanxi, 48

Caishen (God of Wealth), 329 Canglangting Yuan (Surging-Wave Pavilion Garden, the oldest surviving garden in Suzhou, Jiangsu), 86,95, 97

Door Gods (Menshen),

131-134,131,132,133,

148, 228, 2 2 9 , 3 2 5 , 3 2 9 , 3 3 6 - 3 4 1 , 3 3 7 , 3 3 8 , 345.346 Dore, Henry, 328,332

Carpenter's handbooks, 118-120,117

Dowry, 246-247, 269-271, 276

Cave dwellings, 27, 2 9 , 4 3 , 5 2 , 59, 6 0 , 1 8 1

Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng,

Chairs, 1 6 9 , 1 8 0 , 1 8 4 , 1 8 6 , 1 8 7 , 1 9 7 , 1 9 8 , 1 9 9 Changchun She (Studio of Everlasting Spring), 218

also known as The Story of the Stone), 76, 89,143,193, 224, 262-263 Dun Lichen, 132,339, 340-341

Characters. See Wen ("words" and "writing")

Dwellings, meaning of, 1 - 4

Chard, Robert, 327 Chen Fuyao (Qing dynasty scholar, author of Huajing),

79-80, 83

Earth God (Tudi Gong), 1 1 0 , 1 2 0 Earthen dwellings (tulou),

28,36,38,42,53

China Institute, xi, xvii, xix

Earth-sheltered housing. See Cave dwellings

Chiu Kwong-chiu, xix, 4 8 , 3 9 1

Eberhard, Wolfram, 116-118

Chuandou

Ebrey, Patricia, 261-262,341

(post-and-tie-beam wooden

structural framework), 31 Chuang Gong and Chuang Mu (male and female Genii of the Bed), 328

Ecke, Gustav, 161-162 Economic development and housing, 6 - 7 Eight Immortals table. See Baxian zhuo table

Climate and architecture, 5-6, 43

Eight Trigrams (Bagua), 1 0 3 , 1 2 4 , 1 2 6 , 1 2 8

Cohen, Myron, 224-225, 235-257,304,343,

Ellsworth, Robert, 162, 218

374-375 Comfort, 59-71

Environment and housing, 5-6, 43, 59-71, 60-61,135-136,379

"Counting the Nines." See "Nine-Nines Disperse the Cold Pictures/Charts" Courtyard houses, 47-59,140, 373-376, 374, 377.39i. 39i; new-style, 4 8 - 5 0 , 5 0 , 6 0 , 7 0 - 7 1 , 1 5 7 , 232; northern, 14, 2 8 , 3 2 , 4 2 , 4 8 - 5 2 , 5 8 - 5 9 , 2 3 2 , 2 6 1 ; southern, 1 4 , 2 4 8 , 249 Cultural Revolution. See Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Family budgets, 287-290 Family division. See

223-226, 235-257, 281-293 Fang (room; also the conjugal unit, referring to a married couple), 242-244 Fangwei Zong or Liqi Zong (Compass School or Analytical School of fengshui), 102-104,104

446

Index

Fenjia

Family organization and dwellings, 8-9,

Faure, David, 226, 297, 316 Fei Xiaotung (anthropologist and sociologist), 224, 375-376 Fenjia (family division), 224-225, 237-238, 242-246, 289-290 Fengshui (geomancy), 5-6, 34; application of, 20, 99-108,322; schools of, 99-108 Fengshui ta (fengshui pagoda), 120,154. See also Pagodas

Good Fortune (fu), 230, 231 The Golden Lotus (Jin ping mei), 76 Gouliu, possibly God of the Latrine, 329 Graves. See Tombs Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 14, 129 Groundbreaking ritual, 110,111 Gu Cheng Yan (folk house museum), Anhui, 213-214

Fertility, 113-114,114

Cu minju (old dwellings), 209, 220

Filial piety (xiao), 228, 229,317-318,318

Guan cheng chun man (Nine-Nines chart),

Five Agents or Five Phases (wuxing), 105, 106

364-365. 365,368-369,369 Guangdong: amulets, 126; ancestral halls,

Flath, James, 130, 228, 229

304,304,317; family forms and family

Forbidden City, xiii-xiv, xv, 15,18,143,144,

budgets, 281-293; gable configuration,

181,364,365

106; houses, 30,32; pottery mingqi, 39;

Four directions and four spiritual animals, xiii-xiv, xvi, 105-107, 201 Freedman, Maurice, 1 0 1 , 1 0 2

printmaking, 327 Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: houses, 63

Freeman, Michael, 203

Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy), 269, 273

Fu (good fortune, blessings), 230, 231, 252,

Gui (women's apartments). See Inner

349-350

quarters (neifang)

Fu lu shou (wealth, official position, and longevity), 230, 231, 252 Fujian: amulets, 127; ancestral halls, 303,307, 3 0 7 , 3 0 8 , 3 1 0 , 3 1 1 , 3 1 2 , 3 1 3 , 3 1 5 ; fortresses, 29,38,40,42,535

houses, 56,57; village

Guiju (well organized; a term to describe new spatial patterns of organization in a home), 390,392 Guo Xi (Song dynasty scholar and painter), 77

plan, 119 Funerary (tomb) models (mingqi), 37-39,38

Handler, Sarah, 162

Furniture: architecture and, 164-165,170-172,

Han Xizaiyeyan

193-195; classical, 162-163,185,189; hardwoods, 162-163; regional types, 164; softwoods, 162-163; vernacular, 162-163

tu (The Night Revels

of Han Xizai, attributed to Gu Hongzhong), 165,171,195 Happiness. See Good Fortune Hebei: Chengde buildings, 147; furniture,

Gansu: pagodas, 152 Gardens, 15, 24-25, 24, 72-97, 75-78,82, 85-94; design of, 81-91 Gate Gods. See Door Gods (menshen) Gates, 207

183 Heilongjiang: anthropological data, 377-393; courtyard, 378,391; floor plans, 379,382, 383,384; kang, 3 7 9 , 3 8 2 , 3 8 3 , 3 8 4 Henan: cave dwellings, 52; courtyard houses,

Ge Yuan, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, 93-94, 94, 97

232; Door Gods, 229,338; furniture, 195;

Gendered space, 4, 226-227, 227, 243, 251,

new-style housing, 232; one-child policy,

259-279, 265-267,391-392 Geomancy. See Fengshui

Index

225; pagodas, 152; printmaking, 327; tombs, 20; Zhong Kui, 339 447

Hexes. See Amulets Historic preservation issues, 48-50, 69-71, 205-220

Jiang Ziya (Zhou-period minister, also known as Jiang Taigong), 130 Jiangsu: furniture, 187,188; gardens, 2 2 , 2 4 ,

Ho, Ivan Chi Ching, xix, 292 Ho Puay-peng, 194, 232 Hong Kong: ancestral halls, 291-292, 292,

76,78, 8 2 , 8 6 , 8 7 , 8 8 , 9 1 , 9 2 , 9 3 ; houses, 29; printmaking, 326 Jiangxi: amulets, 1 2 6 , 1 2 7 , 1 2 9 ; ancestral

298-299, 2 9 8 , 2 9 9 , 3 0 6 - 3 0 7 , 3 0 6 , 3 0 9 ,

halls, 2 9 6 , 3 0 1 , 3 0 3 , 3 0 3 , 3 0 7 , 3 2 1 , 3 2 2 ;

309,310, 3 1 0 , 3 1 2 , 3 1 3 , 3 1 3 , 3 1 8 , 3 1 9 , 3 2 0 ;

courtyard houses, 55; fortress, 38; lanes,

auspicious symbols, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 1 1 4 , Door

65; pagoda, 120; village plan, 108

Gods, 148; family forms and family

Jiayuan (home-garden), 75

budgets, 290-293; Tsang Tai Uk walled

Jiezi Yuan (Mustard Seed Garden), 80

dwelling, 291-292, 292 Hong lou meng. See Dream of the Red

Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai, 154,155 Jin ping mei (The Golden Lotus), 76 Jin Shi Di (shrine or residence of a man with

Chamber House-Building ritual, 108-114 Hsiung Ping-chen, 278 Hsu, Francis L. K., 230, 232, 373

a jinshi degree), 218 Jing ("forms embodied in scenery 'projecting' out of visual images"), 97

Hu Jingde and Qin Shubao. See Door Gods

Jinjishen (tutelary gods of the house), 328

Hu Jintao, 176

Jiu Ru (Nine Analogs), 354. See also "Three Abundances" (Sanduo)

Hu Shi, 185 Huang Hanmin, xix, 57 Huanghe Lou, Yellow Crane Tower, Wuchang (modern Wuhan, Hubei), 142 Huayuan. See Flower garden, 75 Hubei: Yellow Crane Tower, 142 Huchuang (folding stool with matting; the prototype of later chairs), 195 Hui [Hui nationality] culture, 220

Jiujiu tu, Nine-Nines chart. See Jiujiu

xiao-

han tu ("Nine-Nines Disperse the Cold" pictures or charts) Jiujiu xiaohan shitu ("Nine Nines Disperse the Cold" poetry charts), 351,353,353 Jiujiu xiaohan tu ("Nine-Nines Disperse the Cold" pictures or charts), 351,362-369, 363,365,366,367,368

Hui [Huizhou] culture, 205-206, 220

Jiuyang xiaohan tu ("Nine Yang Disperse

Imperial capitals, i4ff, 19

Johnson, David, 137, 347

the Cold" picture), 351,352,353 Imperial City (Zijin Cheng). See Forbidden Kai Tai tu (Kai Tai picture), 355

City Inner quarters (neifang), 226-228, 227, 259-279, 261, 268, 269, 272

Kaijizu (focal ancestor, the ancestor who established the base of a lineage), 297 Kang (heated brick bed), 376,379,380-381,

Jade Emperor, 228,329, 329,333 Ji Cheng (1582-?, author of Yuan ye [Manual of garden design]), 81-82, 82, 84

here"), 130 448

Index

leader, 1858-1927), xii, xiv Kanyu (alternative name for fengshui: "cover and support" and "canopy of heaven and

Jian. See Bays Jiang Taigongzai

382 Kang Youwei (philosopher and reform

Jervis, Nancy, 226

ci ("Jiang Taigong is

the chariot of earth"), 101. See also Fengshui

Luopan (Geomancer's compass), also called

Kates, George, 162 Keting (or simply ting) (literally "guest

a luojing, 1 0 3 - 1 0 4 , 1 0 4

lounge," "lounge," "hall," but today translated as "living room" and "guest

Men. See Gates

hall"), 382-383

Menshen. See Door Gods

Kitchen, 266, 283, 383

Menzhao (door hoods), 210

Kitchen God. See Stove God [Zaojutt]

Ming dynasty: gardens, 74, 76, 77, 78, 81, 84,

Knapp, Ronald G., xi, xvi, 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , 1 1 8 , 1 2 6 ,

89; houses, 4 8 , 5 4 , 1 6 4 , 1 6 6 , 1 6 7 , 1 8 5 , 1 8 8 , 206, 211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 216, 219

161,171-172, 349-350,391

Mingqi (funerary model), 38

Ko, Dorothy, 264-265, 271, 275, 278

Mingtang (bright or cosmic court; used to Laowu Ge, (earliest Ming period private res-

describe a semicircular pond), 121

idence still standing), Anhui, 164,166,

Minority nationality dwellings, 26-27, 28, 29

1 6 7 , 1 9 1 , 219

Mirrors. See Amulets

Lattice, 59, 6 1 , 6 4 , 1 9 0 , 1 9 1 , 1 9 4 , 2 0 7 , 2 0 8 ,

Misfortune, warding off, 122-135 Monasteries, 1 5 , 1 9

210, 214 Laude, Olivier, xix, 2 8 , 2 9

Morse, Edward Sylvester, 65-66, 68

Leppman, Elizbeth, xix, 30

Mote, Frederick, 140,142

Li Gongnian (Song painter), 150-151,150 Li Liweng (Qing author of Xianqing

ouji

[A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure

Museums of vernacular architecture, 213-218 Mustard Seed Garden. See Jiezi Yuan Muzhu (ancestral tablets), 328

Thoughts]), 80, 80, 83 Li Yu, 188

Neifang ("inner quarters" for women).

Li Yuxiang, xix, 148

See Inner quarters

Liang Sicheng, 39, 41

New-style housing, 254,381-386,383

Liaoning: houses, 30; luck-bringing songs,

New Year celebrations, 1 3 0 - 1 3 4 , 1 3 1 , 228,

111-112; tombs, 23

229,328,331,343-344.351.356

Lin Hui-cheng, xix, 374

Niang Niang goddesses (Sangu Furen), 329

Lin Yutang, 73

Nianhua (New Year pictures), 228,229,

Lindqvist, Cecilia, 223

325-327, 346

Literati gardens. See Gardens

Nine Analogs. See fiu Ru

Liu Dunzhen, 39, 40, 40, 41

"Nine-Nines Disperse the Cold Pictures

Liu Guosong (modern painter), 151,151

(Charts)" (Jiujiu xiaohan tu), 352,

Liu, Xin, 376,376

362-369,363,365,366,367,368

Liu Yuan Garden, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 8 8 , 9 1

Nil shu ("women's script"), 278

Lo Kai-Yin, xi, xvi Longevity (shou), 231

Oliver, Paul, 1, 5

Lu Ban chi (special carpenter's ruler),

One Child Policy, 7, 225, 225

114-116,116,189 Lu Banjing

(Lu Ban Manual),

Orchid Pavilion, 77 111-112,120,

122-124,123,127,128-129 Luojing (Geomancer's compass), also called a luopan, 1 0 3 - 1 0 4 , 1 0 4 Index

Ou Yuan (Garden of Couple's Retreat), Suzhou, Jiangsu, 93 Ouyang Xiu (Song dynasty poet, historian, and statesman, 1007-1072), 78-79 449

Pagodas, 24,120,152-155,152,153,154,155 Panofsky, Erwin, xiv, xvi, Peabody Essex Museum, 220 Pearl River Delta, Guangdong, 226, 281-293 Penjing (Chinese precursor form for the better known Japanese bonsai), 73-74, 74 Piaohui (rotating credit clubs), 251-252 Platform bed (ta), 178,193 Po Sung-nien, 137,347 Principles for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China, 205 Print production, 326-327 Privacy, 225, 251-252, 269-271, 279, 386-394 Protective amulets. See Amulets Puns. See Visual puns Qi (life breath or cosmic energy), 107-108, 201 Qiankou Folk House Museum (Qiankou Guminju Bowuguan), Anhui, 213-214 Qilin songzi ("Qilin sends children"), 339 Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong. See Door Gods Qingming shanghe tu (Qingming Festival on the River), 196,196 Qiuxia Yuan, Jiading, Shanghai suburbs, 75 Quji bi xiong ("Summon good fortune and keep misfortune at bay"), 120. See also Charms Raising the ridgepole (shangliang), 111-113, 112 Rapoport, Amos, 5 Rebus, 353-354,356 Rectifying names. See Zheng ming Ridgepole, raising a (shangliang), 111-113, Rituals: ancestral rites, 263; family rituals, 228-230, 229, 248-251, 262-264, 264,265, 277, 293, 301-302, 311,320-322,321,322, 323 Ruyi ("Everything as you wish" amulet), 338,354

450

Index

Sanduo. See "Three Abundances" Sanyang. See "Three males" Sanyang kai Tai, 356-358 Screen walls (yingbi and zhaobi), 49,124,125 Seat, 195-196,195. See also Chairs Shaanxi: cave dwelling, 29,181,376; Chang'an plan, 19; houses, 15; kang, 376; raising the ridgepole, 112; tombs, 23 Shan Shiyuan, 213 Shandong: ancestral prints, 342,343; Door Gods, 325,337,338,345; Liu Hai, 346; new-style housing, 156; Shrine to Jade Emperor, 332; Stove God, 335,336,344; Yangjiabu prints and printmaking, 326, 328,331,333,343,344; Zhang Tianshi; 340, Zhong Kui, 339,342,343,344,346 Shanghai: gardens, 75; pagodas, 152 Shangliang. See Raising the ridgepole Shanxi: cave dwellings, 43,52; courtyard houses, 29,51; furniture, 176,178,194, 195; lattice, 60; Ming houses, 48; monasteries, 16,17,18; pagodas, 152; tombs, 20, 21,22, Shen Fu (Qing author of Fusheng liuji), 83-84 Shen Tu and Yu Lei. See Door Gods Shengqi (life force or cosmic energy), 107-108 Shenzhu (spirit tablet), 301 Shigandang ("This stone dares to resist"), 129-131,130,131 Shiga Shuzo, 280, 287-288 Shijing (Book of Songs), 99,354 Shufu (comfortable), 68-69,104 Shuikou (water inlet; literally the "mouth of water," where a stream exits from a settlement), 119,120 S hujing (Book of Documents), 99 Si shen (four deities or four spiritual animals), xiii-xiv, xvi, 105-107, 201 Si shou. See Si shen

Sichuan: courtyard houses, 3 1 , 5 5 , 6 8 ; family

[bian] fu that is h o m o p h o n o u s w i t h / « ,

organization, 2 5 6 - 2 5 7 ; houses, 4 3 , 4 5 ;

"blessings"; and the pomegranate

printmaking, 3 2 6 ; villages, 6 3 , 2 5 6

354

Sihelou (two-story modern courtyard-style dwelling), 5 0 , 1 5 7 Siheyuan

(traditional Beijing courtyard

Sima Guang, 2 6 0 , 261

difang

( " T h e universe is round

and the earth square"), 1 7 9 - 1 8 0 , 1 8 0 cifu ( " T i a n g u a n [the heavenly

official] grants fortune"), 1 2 7 , 1 2 8 Tianjin, Yangliuqing prints and printmak-

Smith, Richard J., 101

ing, 3 2 6 , 3 2 9

Spirit walls. See Screen walls

Tianjing

Steinhardt, N a n c y , 189

(skywell, abbreviated courtyard),

5 2 - 5 7 . 5 4 - 5 7 . 1 6 6 , 282, 2 8 3

Stools, 2 0 0 , 2 0 1

Tianyi G e (private library hall), W e n z h o u ,

Story of the Stone. See Dream of the Red (Hong lou meng)

Stove G o d (Zaojun),

Tianyuan Tianguan

tianjing

Smith, A r t h u r H „ 65, 68, 6 9

Chamber

3 5 6 - 3 5 7 . See also

Sanyang kai Tai

house). See Courtyard dwellings Skywell. See

" T h r e e males" (Sanyang),

duozi),

Zhejiang, 1 4 5 Tibet, houses, 2 9

228, 2 3 0 , 3 3 4 - 3 3 6 , 3 3 5 ,

336

Tingtang (main hall of a house), 1 8 2 , 1 8 2 T o m b s (yinzhai),

Subterranean dwellings. See C a v e dwellings Sumptuary regulations (code), 4 5 , 3 1 4 - 3 1 6

as residences, 1 8 , 1 9 , 2 0 , 2 1 ,

2 2 , 22, 2 3 , 1 6 3 T o n g Jun, 7 4 - 7 5 Tongju gongcai (coresidence and c o m m o n

Ta (low platform for sitting or reclining), 178,193

property), 281 Tradition, meaning of, 5

Tables, 1 7 6 , 1 8 2 - 1 8 4 , 1 8 3

Tuan, Y i - f u , xx, 4

Tailiang (post-and-beam w o o d e n structural

Tudi G o n g (tutelary deity). See Earth G o d

framework), 1 3 0 - 1 3 2 , 1 2 9 , 1 3 0 Taishan shigandang

Tuisi Garden, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 8 6

( " T h i s stone dares

to resist"), 1 2 3 , 1 2 9 - 1 3 1 , 1 2 9 , 1 3 0

Tulou (Earthen dwellings), 2 8 T w e n t y - f o u r Paragons of Filial Piety

Taishan stones, 1 2 3 , 1 2 9 - 1 3 1 , 1 2 9 , 1 3 0

(Ershisi

xiao), 228, 2 2 9

Taishan zai ci ("Taishan is here"), 1 3 0 , 1 3 0 Taiwan: amulets, 1 2 6 , 1 2 7 , 226; ancestral

U N E S C O W o r l d Heritage List, 2 1 7 - 2 1 8

room, 18; courtyard houses, 3 1 , 2 4 1 , 2 4 2 , 2 4 8 , 2 4 9 ; D o o r G o d , 3 4 5 ; dwellings, 2 3 6 ,

Visual puns, 1 1 3 - 1 1 4 , 1 1 4 , 3 5 5 - 3 5 6

374» 3 7 5 ! family organization and family division, 2 3 5 - 2 5 5 ; gable configuration,

W a n g , Joseph C., 109

106; new-style housing, 2 5 4

W a n g Shixiang (furniture connoisseur and

T a o Qian. See T a o Y u a n m i n g

scholar), 1 6 1 , 1 6 2

Tao Yuanming, 9 6 - 9 7 , 96

W a n g s h i Y u a n (Master of the Nets Garden),

Tents, 4 3

Suzhou, Jiangsu, 7 6 , 95, 97 W a n j u a n T a n g ("Hall of 1 0 , 0 0 0 V o l u m e s " in

Thatched structures, 2 4 , 3 0 Three A b u n d a n c e s (Sanduo—long

life,

blessings, and progeny, symbolized b y

Master of Nets Garden), Suzhou, Jiangsu, W a t s o n , James, 3 0 4

the Peach of Longevity shou tao; the bat

Index

451

Wen ("words" and "writing"), xii, xiv, 14, 74-75. 75» 141-142» 141» 146,149. 223 Wen Zhengming (Ming dynasty painter, 1470-1559), 84 Wen Zhenheng (author of Zhangwuji [Treatise on superfluous things], 1585-1645), 78,188 Wenyuan Ge (imperial library hall), Beijing,

Yin, female principle, 101-102. See also Yin-yang Yin-yang (complementary opposites), interaction of, 101-102, 356 Yin Yu Tang (restored Huizhou dwelling at Peabody Essex Museum), 220 Yingbi, also zhaohi (protective screens), 124,125 Yingzao fashi, 189

143-145,145 Wolf, Margery, 226, 273, 278

Yinsi (trendy term for privacy), 390,394

Women and household space. See Gendered

Yinzhai (an abode for the dead), 102. See also Tombs

space Woodblock prints, 325-327,349,351,353

Yu Lei and Shen Tu. See Door Gods

Words. See Wen

Yuan (inner courts or courtyards formed by adjacent buildings and walls), 47-53

Wu, Nelson, xiii Wudu (five noxious or poisonous creatures),

Yuan Cai (Song dynasty author and litera-

134,340, 340 Wushi tongtang ("five generations under

Yuan dynasty, 33

one roof'), 281 Wuxing (the Five Agents or Five Phases:

tus, fi. 1140-1195), 8-9, 260 Yuan ye (Manual of Garden Design by Ji Cheng), 81-82, 84

wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), 105,

Yuanzhai (garden-house), 75

106

Yuanzi (inner courts or courtyards formed by adjacent buildings and walls), 41-53

Xianqing ouji (A Temporary Lodge for My Leisure Thoughts by Li Liweng), 8o, 188 Xiao (filial piety), 300-301 Xiao kangzhijia

(contemporary well-off

family), 202-203

Yuchi Gong and Qin Qiong. See Door Gods Yue Fei (hero general of the Southern Song dynasty), 132 Yungmingtang Collection, 1 8 2 , 1 8 4 , 1 8 6 , 1 9 8 Yunnan: houses, 29, 53; tombs, 23

Xinfang (new room, as well as a newly married couple), 243-244 Xingshi Zong (Configurations School, also called Forms School, offengshui), 102-103,104-109,106,107 Xinjiang, tent dwellings, 43 Xiujiu rujiu ("repairing old like old"), 216

Zaojun. See Stove God Zhan Yuan (Ming garden in Nanjing), 89-90 Zhang Tianshi (Heavenly Master, 34-156), 118,339-340, 340 Zhang Zhongyi, 39, 41 Zhejiang: amulets, 1 2 8 , 1 3 0 , 1 3 1 , 1 3 4 , 1 3 5 ;

Yan Yunxiang, 225, 233 Yang, male principle, 101-102. See also Yin-yang Yangzhai (dwelling for the living), 102 Yi Yuan, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 95 Yijing (Book of Change), 146-148,146

452

Index

ancestral halls, 313,313,314; furniture, 187,190; houses, 45,46,65; lattice, 65, 190; monasteries, 17; pagodas, 152; Stove God, 230; Tianyi Ge, 145; villages, 6 2 , 1 1 9 Zhen (calligraphic charms used "to stabilize" a bed, stove, well, chicken coop, etc.), 122-124

Zheng ming (Confucian notion of "rectifying names"), 149-150

Zhuozheng Yuan (Humble Administrator's Garden), 24, 78, 86, 92, 92,95

Zhima ("paper-horse" prints), 332, 333

Zongci. See Ancestral halls

Zhong Kui (formidable demon queller),

Zuobei chaonan ("sitting north, facing

134-135,134» 1 9 9 . 3 3 9 , 3 3 9

south"), 136

Zhu Xi (neo-Confucian scholar), 260, 263, 302,341-342

Index

453

Production Notes for Knapp / HOUSE H O M E FAMILY Cover and interior designed by Barbara Pope Book Design Text in Minion Multiple Master and display type in Frutiger Printing and binding by SNP Leefung Printers Limited Printed on 115 gsm matte art paper